Last Child of Krypton
by Chuckman
Summary: Go read "Last Child of Krypton: Redux". I'd rather that stand as the definitive version.
1. Strange Visitor

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

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><p>"I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. " -Bob Dylan<p>

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><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 1- A Strange Visitor

Shinji Ikari sighed as the recorded message repeated, politely informing him that all lines were currently busy. He gingerly placed the phone in the receiver and stood at the edge of the sidewalk, waiting. In his hand he grasped two objects. One was a photograph of a beautiful woman, posed suggestively, with an arrow drawn in marker aimed at her generous cleavage. Shinji was puzzled as to the sort of impression this Captain Katsuragi intended to make on him. The other was a letter. Most of it was blacked out, save for a single word in block letters: COME. He would have come anyway. It was time.

At that moment, he happened to chance a glance the way he had come. He came by train, of course, as he was instructed, but he looked up the road. He saw waves of heat, the heat of a summer that never ended, rising from the road, creating the illusion of water in the places where it lowered. He also saw waves of shimmering infrared radiation, the heat rising from the ground and the buildings, and the faint interplay of cosmic radiation, the little that leaked through the ionosphere, painting the world in a dozen hues no one else could see. There was one thing that was out of place. In the distance, shimmering with the heat, there was a girl in a school uniform, her skin as white as alabaster, hair so pale that in the strange afternoon light, it looked blue. She gazed at him with piercing red eyes. Instinctively, he turned his head towards the screech of approaching tires. When he glanced back at the street, the apparition was gone.

A blue Renault skidded around the nearby corner and came to a stop sideways where he stood. For a moment, she regarded him, and he regarded her. He was a boy of sixteen, on the edge of becoming a man, and nothing too impressive. He was somewhat slight of frame, although anyone could see by looking at him that he had an obvious natural strength, tough and wiry. His hair was an unruly mop of brown and his eyes a dark blue, hidden behind a pair of glasses he didn't need. They were the only memento he had of his mother. She was more beautiful than the picture, in a tight black dress that hugged every swelling curve and outlined her tight belly, her warm smiling face framed in raven black hair immediately set him at ease.

"Hi! I'm Misato Katsuragi!"

He bowed formally. "Shinji Ikari. Pleased to…"

He trailed off. In the distance, he heard a rhythmic booming, like footsteps. His eyes saw VTOL gunships in the distance, buzzing around something he couldn't see, hidden by the hills. She stared at him in confusion for a moment before the sounds came close enough for the human ear to hear and then she reacted.

"Quick! Get in!"

Fighting the instinct, he got into the car with her and immediately buckled his safety belt. He tossed his small bag containing his meager possessions behind Misato's seat and held on to the door for dear life as she accelerated. He turned his head and watched behind him as the source of the sounds came into view. He was a little shocked to actually see it, to see the thing in itself. As it emerged from behind the hills it was clear that it was only distance that allowed them to obscure it. It was enormous, tall enough to stride among skyscrapers. Its massive triangular torso stood on thin, spindly legs, equally spindly arms hanging long at its side. It looked around with a face like a plague doctor's mask embedded in its chest above a gleaming red sphere, and took deep, gasping breaths through huge finned gills on its side that puffed in and out in slow time. The gunships fired streaking missiles at it, which exploded just short of its body, colliding with hexagonal flashes of orange light that flashed into being all around it.

"What is that?"

Misato chanced a look at it and the car jerked as she straightened out on the road. She dropped into a lower gear and floored it as they hit a curve, tensing herself to keep from being thrown into him. Instinctively he put a hand out on her shoulder and held her place.

"We call them Angels."

He looked at it again, his expression grim. "Someone needs to stop it."

To his surprise, she giggled. "Good. I'm glad you're on board."

He braced himself in the seat as she hit a straightaway and floored it, the speedometer needle sweeping gracefully towards the terminus of its arc. He tried his best to look anxious, but she wasn't examining him. She was at one with the machine, working it with both hands and feet. She slowed slightly as the road curved around a hilltop, partially obscuring the great beast from view. The gunships suddenly pulled back, scattering in all directions at once. Something flashed overhead. A missile.

"No! They're going to use an N2 mine!"

There was so much light…

SSSSS

"Rei."

Hearing the commander's voice, she stirred. Her one good eye opened and scanned the room fitfully, unable to focus. She settled her blurry gaze on the fluorescent lights above her head and waited as long as she could for the throbbing in her skull to ebb just a bit. It didn't, but she had to answer. She was driven. It was her purpose, her reason for being. Pain was irrelevant, a signal that her body was damaged, nothing more.

"Yes," she croaked.

"The alternate has not arrived. You will do it again."

She closed her eyes. It was a command, not a request, and her input was not required. She did her best to ignore the lances of pain that shot through her limbs as the doctors and nurses gingerly removed her arm and leg from the traction slings and stripped off her hospital gown, cutting it away in places to make the process that much faster. Anyone else would have been embarrassed as her nude form was exposed to the harsh light. The nurses carefully tugged the partial plugsuit into place. Unlike the sealed full coverage version, the adapted plugsuit they prepared for her now had to be cinched into place manually, the nurses squeezing and positioning her to get it closed around her torso, leaving her bandaged arms and leg exposed. She breathed a sigh of quiet relief when they were finished and the gurney began to roll.

Lights flashed over her head. She heard the thrum of generators, the clanking of machinery as the plug was extracted. Four people took her under each limb and lifted her into the command chair. She groaned in pain as they settled her in, criss-crossed the straps across her torso, and set her one good hand on the control yoke. He head lolled to the side and she caught a glimpse of Ritsuko Akagi's contempt as the plug door sealed and the LCL began to flood in.

As she became buoyant, she felt a sudden sense of relief. The pain from the injuries was not lessened, but the constant pressure of gravity on her fractured ribs and damaged joints was relieved by a gentle floating sensation. It was almost pleasurable. She heard the technicians mechanically reciting the startup procedures. The magic words, third stage connection, were spoken. There was a flash of color, and she was no longer herself. She was two selves. The pain in her body was a buzzing in the mind of a great giant. A giant who didn't want her.

She forgot how much the launch was going to hurt. She screamed.

SSSSS

Toji gave his sister a gentle push. "Come on," he whispered, as if the Angel would hear him.

"I don't _wanna," _Kanna replied, tugging at his warm-up jacket. "I wanna see the robot!"

He pulled her into the arch of one of the low buildings that ringed the outskirts of the city, not far from the school, and cursed himself. This was his fault, it was all his fault. If he had caught her, if he had paid attention to her when the alarm sounded and gotten her into the shelter with the others, they would be safe. He realized he was shaking and fell against the side of the building, hugging her. She clapped with joy, pigtails bouncing, and he turned in horror and saw it.

There was a sudden metallic clang as twin metal rails rocketed out of the ground with a hiss of steam and locked into place, followed an instant later by the machine itself, moving at terrible speed. Toji blinked, as if the thing would disappear, like a monster from a dream. It was enormous, taller than the buildings around it, a purple and green giant with a grimacing, angry face with a single horn, like the ogres of ancient legend. He pulled his sister tighter as he heard the rhythmic pounding of the enemy approaching. Then the worst thing happened. Kanna saw it.

She started to cry.

"Shh," he said, rocking her in his arms. "It's okay," he lied, "we'll be okay."

"I want daddy!"

"I know, just be quiet. It'll be over in a minute."

The robot took a step forward, shakily, and Toji could swear he heard it grunt in pain. It took another bounding step, and the Angel was on it. They clashed, the air between them crushing out and rushing over him like a wave. The Angel took the robot's head in one hand, almost contemptuously, and a great lance of light erupted from its forearm and then slammed home like a piledriver. There was a great crack and bits of purple armor and blood, _blood_ rained down on the street. It was a _machine. _How could it _bleed?_

It was so fast. So easy. The robot went limp and the Angel threw it, just tossed it away by the head and turned back to whatever it was doing. Toji watched as the robot fell towards them, pressed Kanna's head into his chest so she wouldn't see, felt her sobs and her hot breath on his chest and knew that this was it, this was the end, this was his fault, and he was so sorry. There was a crash and a rush of air and dust and he could _feel_ the concrete coming down and the particalized cement stinging his eyes, already burning with tears, and he prayed to whoever would listen that she wouldn't feel it, that it wouldn't hurt.

The end didn't come.

He opened his eyes, blinked once. The shadow was over them still. A chunk of debris hovered over them in the air. He stared at it, jaw slack, and then followed it down to the ground. He saw the hands, first, young hands like his own, pressed into the gray stone among rebar that hug down like twisted roots in a clump of earth. Those hands belonged to a boy, a boy his own age in red and blue. The sun was behind him so that he shone, and his face was in shadow. On his chest was an emblem, like an English S, angular and stylized in a diamond-shaped red field on the expanse of his blue chest. He held the stone over their heads for just a moment and then tossed it aside, brushed his hands together to clean them of dust, and offered Toji a hand.

He pulled Toji to his feet with ease, then with the back of his hand brushed Kanna's soft hair.

"Hi," he said, "What's your name."

She looked at him through tear stained eyes. "K-Kanna."

"Hi Kanna. Are you okay?"

"Ye-yes."

"Let's get you somewhere safe, so I can help the big robot."

"Okay."

"Come on," he said, leading them away from the wreckage. The building was ruined. Toji gaped, and broke into a trot behind the stranger, who shoved open the doors to another building. The lock gave way as if it were nothing, the doors bent as if they were made of paper.

"Get in there and get inside a doorframe," the stranger said, "I'll do what I can to keep them off you."

Toji nodded as he went into the building.

"I don't like robots anymore," Kanna whispered.

SSSSS

Rei realized, dimly, that she was hyperventilating and tried, desperately, to stop herself. Each ragged gasp brought new waves of pain across her ribs, and she contorted in agony. Anyone else would have begged for it to stop. Rei only pushed on the control, reached for Eva, and desperately tried to make her move. She heard voices.

"We're losing it. She's dropping below the absolute borderline."

She forced her eye open and she saw, through the Eva's eyes, as the impossible happened. The Angel stopped in its tracks, great spindly arms flailing, as if it were confused. For a moment, she wondered how, why the creature would stop in its relentless advance, stop trying to murder her and reach its goal. Then she spotted the tiny blue figure pushing against it, pushing it back. She willed the Eva and Eva answered her, tightening her view. This was not possible.

There was a person, and he was pushing the Angel back with his _bare hands._ She gasped, the pain momentarily forgotten, as the tiny figure wound up, drew a fist back, and punched the Angel full on in the face. To her shock, it moved, it actually moved, he was pushing it back. Her good eye widened. She reeled, her mind unable to sort out of the pieces of what she was seeing. She comprehended the individual parts of the scenario unfolding before her, but the totality of it was lost on her, like the strange images in in a dream.

"The core," she called out, not knowing to who or why, "destroy the red core!"

As if he heard her, the figure glanced back at the Eva, moved, and struck for the core, the pulsating, gleaming, mineral-hard core in the Third Angel's chest. The impact rang out like a hammer blow, and it cracked, it _cracked,_ and the thing let out a keening wail of rage that rippled through like the toll of a bell. It swiped at its assailant frantically, and he dodged the blows easily, flitting about it like a hornet, gradually building enough speed for another hit. The crack in the core widened, and the thing slowed in its movements.

"No!" Rei breathed, knowing what came next. The beast _pulsed, _and began to draw in on itself, wrapping itself up in a ball. To her surprise, the creature rose, lifted off the ground, slowly at first, then faster, pushed by the tiny figure braced hands and shoulders beneath it, heaving it into the sky like Atlas holding the cosmos. She held her breath to dull the pain, and for the second day there was light, oh so much light, and she heard the technicians babbling their coded language of feedback loops and neural connections and the Eva went dark, overwhelmed. She floated in the LCL, feeling light, the straps digging into her at a crazy angle.

There was a dull thud, and she heard the clang of the emergency ejection system. Involuntarily she winced, remembering the last time she was ejected. The light of the fading sun bathed her as the plug opened with a hiss, LCL draining out. She heard the splash as a human shape dropped into the plug with her, took hold of her chair, and tore it free from the plug with a great groan of metal. The swaying was almost gentle, and she closed her eye involuntarily. She felt a warm hand caress her cheek.

"Who did this to you?"

She could only half-sigh, half groan in reply, a small, quiet sound.

"I-is that the pilot?" another voice said.

"I think so."

There was a little girl's voice. "She's pretty."

The first voice again. "You should go. You might get in trouble if you get caught out here when the people that built this thing get here."

Her consciousness was beginning to fade. She heard footsteps in the distance, a voice crying out for someone to stop, and felt the sudden rush of air as he took flight.

SSSSS

Misato groaned as her head swirled. The first thing she saw was the massive dent above her head, and she let out a small growl in reply, angry at the damage to her car. She moved and her head swam. A gentle hand steadied her and undid her seat belt, letting her breathe. She slumped in the seat and turned.

"Miss Katsuragi?"

"S-Shinji?"

"I'm here."

She sat up, groaning, and rubbed her forehead with her hands. She looked around. The car was sitting in a field next to the road, and somehow, they'd landed right side up, although it was clear the car hand rolled from the dented roof, the bent pillars and cracked glass.

"My car!" she said petulantly, forgetting herself for a moment. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "They must have dropped an N2 on… on the Angel… _shit_, we have to get to headquarters!"

"You mean the monster, right?" Shinji said from the seat next to her.

"Yeah, we've got to get you to Unit-01…"

"It's dead."

"What?"

"I didn't want to move you," he said, pushing his door open. "I didn't know how badly you were hurt. I watched the battle from the hill over there."

"Oh my God! What happened?"

"I don't know. The robot came out of the ground and the …Angel? The Angel beat it up pretty bad, then it just flew up in the air and exploded."

"That doesn't make any sense," Misato groaned, pushing on her door. "Why would it… I think this is stuck."

"Here," he said, circling around to her side of the car. He pulled on the door. "Push!"

The car groaned a bit, and the door popped free. He caught her as she tumbled out.

"Oof!"

"Are you hurt?"

"Nah, I think I got lucky. It's a good thing we were behind that hill."

Shakily, she got to her feet, brushed off her dress, straightened herself. The car was a ruin, the roof smashed, the windows all broken, the once pristine blue sheet metal a sea of dents, rents, and scratches. Both headlights were shattered and the grill was missing. She blinked. They were really lucky to come out of that unhurt. She took a step, yelped, and fell down as pain shot through her leg.

"My ankle!"

Shinji was at her side immediately, running his hand over the joint. "I don't feel a break," he said, nodding. "I think you just twisted it."

She shivered and withdrew her leg. "We just met!"

He blinked in surprise, his mouth working wordlessly. "I, uh, I didn't, I mean…"

"You're too easy," she grinned. "We need to get back to headquarters, but I can't walk like this."

She pulled out her phone. The screen was cracked. "Great," she muttered.

He sighed. "Put your arms around my neck."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll carry you."

She giggled a bit at that. "Oh please."

He looked at her earnestly. Something about his blue eyes disarmed her. "Trust me," he said.

"Fine."

He leaned over to her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He slipped one arm under her knees and another under her back, carefully avoiding putting his hand anywhere near her chest, she noted with a bit of surprise. Then with astonishing ease he stood up, taking her with him. She settled into his arms and looked at him in surprise.

"Uh, I work out," he said, blushing.

SSSSS

"Better late than never," Ritsuko Akagi announced to the technicians as Misato gingerly limped her way into the room, her left ankle wrapped.

"What's the word, Rits?"

"Unit-01 is badly damaged. Rei couldn't pilot at all. If the Angel hadn't self-destructed for no readily apparent reason, we'd all be dead."

"It's not my fault. Somebody dropped an N2 bomb on me."

Ritsuko smirked. "I know."

At that moment, Shinji entered the Pribnow box, somewhat self-consciously, picking at theskin-tight plugsuit material. Maya Ibuki, Ritsuko's perky young assistant, gaped openly at him.

"Wow," she whispered.

"Yeah," Misato said, punching the girl in the arm, "Puberty hid that kid like a freight train, didn't it?"

"Misato!" Ritsuko snapped, prompting a giggle from her assistant.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Misato said. "He's a tad young for my tastes anyway."

Shinji approached the test plug, which sat half-immersed in a sea of LCL, above the submerged body of an aborted Evangelion, a massive, muscular, humanoid thing with skin like a cetacean. Ritsuko was a little disturbed looking at them, even after all these years. "It's too bad we can't test him in Unit-01, but the damage was too great. Rei hit the emergency eject somehow, and the neck armor was damaged in the process."

"How bad is the damage?" Misato said, settling in a chair. She wheeled over to the window that spread over the control panels, looking out on the gray concrete expanse of the Pribnow Box. Shinji stepped into the test plug and it closed and retracted into the LCL.

Ritsuko pushed a button and spoke into a microphone. "Just breathe it in normally, Shinji. It's oxygenated.

"I feel sick," he said back. Ritsuko smirked.

"You'll get used to it."

"Ready, Doctor Akagi," Maya said, taking her position.

"Start it up."

"Reaching first stage connection, electrolyzing LCL… wait, Doctor, there's a problem."

Ritsuko walked over to her station and looked down at the screens. "I don't believe it."

"What is it?" Misato said.

"His synch ratio is _zero._ He can't synch. At all."

"Are you saying he can't pilot?"

"We'll try a few times, scrub the sensors, but no, I doubt he can. It's not a surprise, only a very few people can."

Misato sighed. "I'll call Second Branch. We need a pilot, and I'm afraid if we have to sortie Rei again…"

"Yes," Ritsuko said absently, tapping on her keyboard. "Bring in the Second Child. She'll just have to pilot Unit-01 until her Evangelion arrives. Where is it, anyway?"

"Halfway across the Pacific, I guess."

Shinji's voice crackled over the speakers. "Can I take this thing off now?"

"Sure you can," Ritsuko smirked into the microphone.

"Rits!" Misato giggled. Her old friend quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

SSSSS

Shinji sighed and ran his hand through his hair, which was still a little sticky, and smelled faintly of blood despite a shower. He shivered at the thought, even as he heard the welcome news.

"I hate to put you through all this for nothing," Misato said softly.

"It's okay," Shinji shrugged. "I just… you said the other pilot was hurt. I wish there was something I could do to help her."

"I know," she said. "So, what now?"

His shoulders sank. They stepped into the elevator, and her hand hovered over the buttons. She watched him for a moment. He was visibly shrunken, it seemed, dejected. She held the door open button with one hand and put the other on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

He looked at her through the corner of his eye and shrugged again. He hesitated for a moment, then said. "I just… I thought my father wanted to see me. He's not even going to say anything to me, and I have to go back to my uncle's house out in the country again."

She tapped her finger against her chin thoughtfully.

"Maybe not."

He brightened. "How so?"

"Well, I could use an assistant," she grinned. "I have a lot of paperwork, you know, and my laundry. I might even be able to make you an official NERV intern. Wouldn't that be great?"

He looked at her askance. "I guess… where would I stay? I've got no money."

"I can take care of that," she said. "I have a couple of extra bedrooms in my place. You could stay with me."

"R-really?" he said.

"Yeah, really. You still look upset. What's wrong?"

"Could I… could I see her? The pilot?"

"Sure," she said, and pushed the elevator button.

SSSSS

Rei stirred as she felt a presence in her room. She cracked her eye, but saw only a blurr, and closed it again as a soft gasp escaped her cracked lips. She felt a soft hand take hers, and reflexively closed hers around it, her cool skin glad of the warmth. Her pulse was ragged.

"Hello," a voice whispered. "A-are you okay?"

"I will… recover…" she croaked.

"Are you thirsty? Here."

She felt a straw pressed against her lips and took a small sip, grateful for the cool wetness in her parched mouth.

For the first time in her short, sorry life, someone said something to Rei Ayanami that she had never before heard. It came as a shock to her, even sedated as she was, and made her blurry eye pop open again. The edges of her mouth twitched as a foreign sensation flooded the back of her mind.

"You'll be okay," he said, with absolute conviction.

"Come on," the Operations Director, Katsuragi, said behind her visitor. "She needs to rest."

SSSSS

Gendo Ikari sat in repose in his lair, like the spider in the center of a great web, the enormous black void of his office, lit by the Tree of Life etched into the ceiling, entirely filled and almost overflowing with his presence despite the size. Despite their off-hours relationship, Ritsuko Akagi quailed in this place, even in light of her quite rational calculation that it was precisely that effect that was meant by its design. Fortunately, his baleful gaze fell not on her, but on the tiny screen that had risen from behind a hidden panel in the glassy expanse of his desk, as he watched a zoomed, enhanced loop from the Evangelion's operational recording system again, and again. Without a word he waved her away, and with a lump in her throat she turned. She stopped at the door.

"Tonight," he said, no further explanation required.


	2. Second Child

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

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><p>"You will believe a man can fly." -Advertising copy, <em>Superman: The Motion Picture<em>, 1976

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><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 2- The Second Child

Ryoji Kaji was, at heart, a philosophical man, or perhaps a man talented in appearing philosophical to more easily woo women. In either case, he was quite philosophical now, as he sat in a flight from Vladivostok to Tokyo-3 at the head of the first class section with Asuka Langely Soryu, the Second Child, Evangelion Pilot, and fifteen year old girl. Kaji once read that hell is other people. Hell, he decided, was teenage girls. In an airplane. He would leave that last part off, it made the whole thing sound markedly less clever. There were two things she was doing that led him to this conclusion. One, she was holding his hand. Again. Two, she was demanding to know when they'd get there. _Again._

Sighing, he snatched his hand away and fumbled for the newspaper he'd already read six times, studiously trying not to engage her in conversation, although he did glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She was stunningly beautiful, and if he'd been a younger man, and hadn't effectively raised her since she was nine, he might have been more receptive to his advances, but as it was, it was like dealing with a cousin, or maybe a little sister, with a crush. That, and she was so insistently, desperately looking for anyone to show some concern for her, to push past her bluster, and for lack of a better term her bullshit, that the anyone who _did _ take advantage of her by pushing just the right buttons without really caring for her deserved to burn in hell.

She was dressed up for her big debut. Knowing her, she probably thought she was going to be met by a huge reception at the airport; Katsuragi had already told him that they wanted everything low key, since there were currently two people in the world qualified to pilot the only machines that could prevent the total destruction of the human race, and parading them around in public was a stunningly terrible idea. Kaji agreed completely and had been gradually letting her down during the entire flight; bring up bits and pieces and hints of how quiet the whole thing would be. Angering her would be a bad idea. She might breach the hull.

Kaji dropped his paper as the airplane shuddered a bit, lurching him up and down. He looked around. Asuka took it in stride, and continued to stare out the window, her hand cupped in her chin. Considering her training, turbulence probably wasn't much of an issue before. Kaji sighed and turned back to studying his paper. Maybe he could finish the crossword puzzle.

Then the plane lurched again, and the FASTEN SEAT BELTS light came on. Kaji took notice now, setting the folded paper in the sea beside him. He motioned to the Section 2 men seated behind them to buckle themselves in. One of them leaned forward.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. Something's wrong."

SSSSS

"I bet you'll like her," Misato said absently, tapping the steering wheel of her very sedate, very boxy, very unpleasant rental car. It would be weeks until her baby was drivable again, and she wouldn't be able to afford to really _fix_ her for a long time. Especially since she still had payments. She thumbed the turn signal on and pulled into the visitor's parking lot for Tokyo-2 International Airport. Shinji stared up at the planes absently, chin in hand. He sat up suddenly, and Misato was about to ask him what was wrong when her cell phone buzzed angrily.

She answered as she stepped out of the car.

"Captain? It's Hyuga."

"What is it?"

"There's something wrong with Asuka's plane. We picked up the distress call on the air band a minute ago. They're going down."

She snapped the phone closed and jammed in her pocket, and then broke into a run. "Come on, Shinji!"

She trotted to a stop. "Shinji?"

SSSSS

The plane lurched hard to the side, the wings shuddering as the pilot struggled for control. Two of the four engines were smoking, and a third was showering sparks. Asuka looked out the window and horror and took a white knuckle grip on the seat, shivering. She had an sudden, very uncomfortable feeling that she was, in fact about to die. This was only confirmed when the entire aircraft suddenly shifted about ten feet to the left and kicked her stomach up into her throat. She strangled a cry of alarm. She turned to Kaji. The older man looked grim, but retained a zen-like calm. There was a sudden shriek of metal, a terrible rending groan, and the left wing of the plane peeled back, wobbled for a moment in the air, and detached, falling end over end through space. Asuka clenched her teeth shut and closed her eyes, and put her hand on Kaji's.

Then, she heard it. Something cut through the screaming behind her.

"What the hell is that?"

Her eyes snapped open. The Section 2 man behind her looked out the window. "Is it a missile?"

"No," said the one next to him. "I think it's a bird or something. It's not a plane, it's too small, it- here it comes!"

Asuka watched, wide eyed, as a tiny blue-and-red object flitted about behind the plane like some kind of a huge bird. She watched it land on the rear of the fuselage, just ahead of the tail section. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was a person… there was someone _standing_ on the back of the plane, in some kind of red and blue costume. She watched as he took hold of the tail and began to pull, tugging on the metal. This was impossible. She had to be dreaming. This was a dream, and she was going to wake up any minute and realize they'd landed and all the bouncing had made her have a nightmare about the plane crashing.

"What is it?" Kaji said, crowding next to her. "What the-"

There was a final, moaning shriek as all at once the tail section came free, tearing loose in a shower of sparks and thin, spindly tatters of metal, like shredded paper thrown into the wind. The figure toppled backwards, end over end, tangled up in his cape.

SSSSS

"Nice move, Shinji," he berated himself as he watched the now wingless and tailless plane start to roll. He had to think and he had to do it fast. He couldn't just grab the plane and stop it, it would pull it apart or kill the passengers or worse. He dove through the smoke, skimmed along the side of the plane, and planted himself on the nose. Spreading his arms wide, he carefully, deliberately started to put pressure on it, first from left to right and then pushing ever so gently up, trying to level it out. It struggled against him, the metal rending at his touch. If he pushed too hard, he'd go right through it and make it worse. Finally, inexorably, it began to straighten and stabilize.

Then he noticed that he'd missed the airport.

"Great."

SSSSS

Asuka watched the figure slice by her window, the panicked screams of the other passengers drown out her thoughts. There was a lurch and she could feel something straining against the plane. Even as it started to level out, the ground swept up, too fast, and she realized they'd missed the landing strip, heading for the trees beyond. Tree limbs were beginning to beat against the remaining wing, and the plane started to push up again, ever so gently. Finally they cleared the trees, which opened out onto a highway. The plane began to turn perilously, shifting her world to the side, and she reflexively closed her eyes. They were almost in.

She waited for the thud, and just when she thought it was never going to come, there it was, nearly jarring her out of her seat, the belt digging into her waist. She pressed hard into the seat back as sparks and smoke shot up from the side of the plane, obscuring her window. For what felt like forever the plane rumbled along the ground, starting to tilt and turn sideways until, slowly, finally, it came to a stop. There was a sudden lurch forward and the seat belt ground into her middle again, and she flopped back against the seat, panting.

Every eye turned towards the door at the front of the plane, just short of the cockpit. There were three metallic clangs, the door shook once, and then with a scream of metal _tore_ free, bursting outward with incredible force, shattering the hinges. The world seemed to slow as he stepped onto the plane.

He was wearing some kind of uniform, mostly blue with red boots and a red cape and a strange symbol emblazoned across his chest, and he looked at her with warm blue eyes, just for a second, as he scanned the plane. He was filthy and covered with leaves and road grime and he was panting and he said,

"Is anybody hurt?"

"I bith my tongue!" one of Asuka's bodyguards announced. She palmed her face.

SSSSS

Shinji resisted the urge to lean on his knees and pant, or brush the debris off his costume. He did his best to keep his eyes off Asuka, and he failed totally. Misato's description of her was a pale reflection, like the light of the moon in the ripples across a pond. She wore a yellow sundress and a ribbon at her pale throat and crossed long, supple legs in front of her. She met his eyes with her own, a deep cerulean that reminded him of the sky on a summer afternoon. Her auburn hair was like the sunset, held back on her head by a pair of barrettes that he recognized, after a moment, as A-10 connectors. Misato had told him she never took them off.

Then the doofus behind her said something about biting his tongue, and she stifled a laugh. He couldn't help but smile. He was paralyzed. What should he do? Offer her a hand? Introduce himself? Say _"Hi, I'm Shinji Ikari, and I can breathe in space?"_ He had to do something, to say something, so he did.

"Are you alright, miss?"

"Yeah," she said absently, "I- I'm fine, thank you."

He looked up and realized that half a dozen camera phones were pointed at him and, to his credit, didn't start in response. Instead he smiled, looked around the plane, and said,

"I hope this doesn't put you off flying. Statistically, it's still the safest way to travel."

Then he took a bounding step towards the door, stepped out, and flew off.

SSSSS

"Showoff," Asuka muttered, crossing her arms. Kaji smirked at her, then straightened his face, desperately hoping she didn't notice. She was kind of cute when she was being defensive. Kaji sighed when one of the goons sitting behind them tapped him on the shoulder.

"What the _hell _was that?"

"You've got me," Kaji replied.

SSSSS

Misato ducked back into the car and turned the key in the ignition. Only then did she notice that Shinji was cowering in the seat beside her, covering his head. She sighed and patted him on the shoulder. Poor kid, after everything he'd seen in the last few days, telling him that the plane that they were going to meet was crashing was probably not the best thing for his psyche. She sighed and started the car. Her phone rang again.

"Katsuragi."

"Captain, you have got to see this. I'm sending a link to your phone now."

The call disconnected and she waited as the text message popped up, hit okay, and YouTube loaded. She skidded the car to a stop as she realized what she was seeing. It was the inside of a plane, of _Asuka's _plane, she realized when she saw the back of the girl's head in the foreground. A figure stood at the front of the plane in… in a _cape, _ addressing the passengers, the light of the morning pouring in behind him through a rent in the plane.

"I hope this doesn't put you off flying…" he said through tinny speakers. The phone rang again.

"What is it now?"

Hyuga reported to her where the plane landed. She pointed the rental car towards the exit, straightened herself, and tossed the phone to Shinji as she floored it.

"Hi Shinji," Hyuga said.

"Oh, uh, hi Mister Hyuga."

"You can call me Makoto."

"Uh, yeah, can I call you back? Misato's trying to kill us."

"I am not," Misato snapped as the car drifted out onto the highway, slammed the car into a lower gear, and gunned it. The car fishtailed a bit, and then straightened as its tiny four cylinder engine roared, a look of manic glee on the driver's face.

"You know what the best thing about a rental car is, Shinji?"

"No, what?"

"No car can accelerate quicker, corner harder, or go from reverse into drive at a higher speed!"

Shinji groaned. In the distance he could see the last wisps of smoke rising from the crash site, and smirked secretly to himself. They rounded the gentle curve, passed the trees, and saw the gaggle of fire trucks and emergency vehicles around the plane. Misato pulled to a stop, rolled down her window, and held out her NERV identification like a battle standard, rolling slowly through the throng to the foot of the yellow emergency slide that had opened up from the side of the plane at the good wing. Asuka stood with her minders, a wool emergency blanket thrown over her shoulders. She wore it like an affectation, to appease the idiots around her who assumed she needed comforting, although she did cleave rather closely to the side of one man, who wore a lazy, casual smile over a lazy, casually undone dress shirt and tie, a scruffy sort with thin stubble and a ponytail.

"You," Misato growled. Shinji swallowed, hard.

Misato put the car and park and stepped out, and Shinji did the same. At this point, several things happened all of a piece. Misato's eyes met Kaji's, and something not unlike a bolt of lightning passed between them, the sort of intense feeling of presence that drew looks from the fire crew and other passengers gathered around. It was a look of love in denial pretending to be longing meeting one that was just longing, wrapped up in a sad, sloppy grin the way a frightened child swaddles himself in a security blanket. The second thing that happened was that Asuka Langley Soryu laid eyes on Shinji Ikari for the first time, and stiffened oh so subtly, her air of casual indifference shifting to one of deliberately indifference, her eyes rapidly snapping off him to look anywhere else before he noticed her looking. Shinji, being Shinji, despite being able to see the heat rising from her skin, hear the quickening of her heartbeat, and practically _feel_ the sounds of the afternoon breeze brushing through her hair, of course noticed none of this. Instead he waited patiently next to Misato, expecting her to introduce him. He adjusted his glasses and coughed.

"Hey," Asuka broke the silence, "I know you. You're the washout, right?"

"I," Shini stammered, "I- what?"

"Asuka, be nice," Kaji chided, grinning. "Don't worry about it, Shinji. Her bark is… well actually the bite is worse."

"_Kaji_," Misato snapped.

"Oh relax," Kaji smirked. "I assure my relations with Miss Soryu are those of a doting parent."

Shinji didn't need fifteen kinds of vision to see the girl glare at the older man with a look so fierce it could cut glass. At least her attention was off him. He was quite unsure why he was so glad to be relieved of her gaze, nor why he felt a sudden pang to be back under it.

"You… you know who I am?"

"Of course," Kaji said. "Only by relation to your father, of course. I must say you're taller than I expected."

Shinji cringed at the mention of his father. "Oh."

"I'm here to pick up Asuka," Misato said coolly. "so we'll be on our way."

"Oh, I hope you don't mind if I tag along," Kaji said, following as she turned. "It's a bit of a walk to the airport from here."

Misato huffed indignantly, but didn't say no. The older man naturally fell in step beside Shinji. He leaned over and whispered, "Always let them walk in front."

Shinji shot him a wry look over the tops of his glasses, but said nothing. Instinctively, he opened the front door of the car for Asuka, and was prevented from doing the same for Misato by Kaji, who opened it and bowed, gesturing inside with an exaggerated motion. Asuka bounced into her seat and once Misato had slammed her door in Kaji's face. Kaji stopped Shinji as he opened the back door and leaned in close, and whispered so quietly that Shinji wasn't sure he was meant to be heard, but of course he was.

"Neat trick with the plane. We need to talk. Now stay calm. I'll keep them distracted."

His eyes wide, Shinji slowly settled into the seat, his eyes nervously flitting from Misato to Asuka and back again. Misato wordlessly started the car, and as soon as there were no pedestrians in front of her, Kaji began working his magic.

"So Shinji," he said rather loudly, "I hear you're living with Katsuragi now. Tell me, is she still wild in bed?"

SSSSS

Kozo Fuyutsuki stood silently outside of the office of his commanding officer, once his student, Gendo Ikari. He was forced to wait, for the members of the Human Instrumentality Committee would not deign for the second in command of their subordinate organization to sit in on meetings with the commanding officer, lest he see a dressing down. The nature of his inclusion in the organization left him trusted for his willingness to keep secrets for so long despite the horror he expressed upon first learning them, but held at arm's length in light of the nature of his recruitment. They would value his loyalty, but never trust him, give him a high position, but never authority beyond the bare minimum needed to serve their purposes. He was just another tool, although a tool that knew of the hand that wielded it.

At length the door popped open, alerting him without ceremony that he was permitted to enter. When not in session with his superiors, Gendo Ikari kept his office open, as if daring anyone who might presume upon his time to enter and prove themselves worthy. Having crossed the vast expanse of his office with its dark colors and low ceiling, carefully crafted to put the supplicant in awe of the man who sat at its far end, he found the entire matter tedious, but of course made no remarks on the subject. He had long learned that Gendo Ikari would speak more openly to someone he could not see face to face, and so took up a position behind his superior, over his shoulder, in place of a conscience the man had long ago discarded. This little ritual reminded him sickeningly of the habits of some old serial villain, though he kept this sentiment to himself as well.

"Well?" he broke the ice at last, knowing that the man seated before him would not be the first to speak.

"The committee are naturally concerned about recent events. I informed them I have the matter in hand."

"Did they mention the circumstances of the Second's arrival?"

"No. They are no doubt curious, but none will investigate too deeply. In the end, it is of no consequence."

Kozo considered this for a moment. "Was the operation a success?"

"He reacted as I anticipated. If I can mold him to meet our needs, the impact on the Scenario will be minimal. If he is less tractable than I anticipate, the more extreme measures are still available."

"You could approach him directly. Explain-"

"_No." _the younger man snapped with finality.

Kozo quickly changed the subject. "The Second herself-"

"Will suit our needs perfectly. In the end, using any _but_ her would have been a fool's errand. It would be unnecessarily sentimental to put him in her place, even if he could pilot."

"I see," Kozo said. "Will there be anything further? I must attend to the budgetary matters regarding the repairs, and the German government is complaining about transfer of Unit-02."

"No. Handle it."

Kozo nodded and left the room, not turning back to look at the commander of NERV as he did. Once he was out of view of Ikari's office his pace quickened, but only slightly. He considered his options for the moment, and decided it was best to actually go to his office and get some work done. He stepped into the elevator, pressed the button, and watched the round counter click-click-clack its way as he headed down, deeper into the abyss beneath Tokyo-3. Lieutenant Ibuki joined him in the elevator after three floors.

"Good afternoon," she said brightly, a warm smile on her face.

"It is, Lieutenant Ibuki. How are you today?" he said cordially, as if he weren't among the chief architects of a mad cult's plan to murder her soul.

SSSSS

Asuka was tired, hungry, and had spent another hour on top of a fourteen hour flight with a layover in Siberia or some other awful Russian hole, with only per precious Kaji and some nameless goons to defend her. Goons that had been left at the airport. Such were the wages of goons, for there were goons aplenty but only two Evangelion pilots in the whole of the world, and only one of them was Asuka Langley Soryu, which put the other at an immediate and profound disadvantage. Now she was trudging up stairs –Misato didn't have the good sense to live in an apartment complex with an elevator- to her new home, which since the good captain had picked it out, was bound to be horrible. She braced herself for disappointment, to be only more severe now that her precious Kaji had abandoned her at the first entrance to the Geofront. Something about reporting for his new duties.

At least her boxes were here. Misato didn't seem surprised, and shouldn't have been, having had the opportunity to bask in Asuka's greatness in Germany proper, but her boring little assistant did, openly wondering,

"What's all this stuff?"

"This stuff would be my things," Asuka said imperiously. "You can help carry them," she added in a sweet tone that really meant "You can carry them all."

Misato worked her way amongst the forest of boxes and opened up an apartment that was already occupied. Asuka blinked, wondering who she'd be rooming with, until she detected the faint, lilting scents of beer and curry, marking Misato's territory more clearly than a blinking sign. She followed her new guardian inside, and noticed something that alarmed her. There was a door which quite clearly read "Shinji's Lovely Suite", marked with a little magic marker heart.

"I guess she's moving you out, washout," she said, glancing at the boy, who had already kindly started moving boxes into the apartment. He was strong, she had to give him that.

Misato's lips split in a wry grin. "Nah, I have two extra rooms."

Full stop.

"What?" Asuka shrieked. "A boy and a girl shouldn't live under the same roof after the age of seven!"

"I'll be around to chaperone you," Misato grinned. "Besides, Shinji's a very quiet young man, and it's his cooking or mine."

"But…"

"What are you worried about, anyway? Do you _liiiiiike _him?"

Asuka groaned. She was unable to resist sliding open the door to his room. Inside she was surprised- his room was studiously neat, a pair of pajamas carefully folded on a neatly made futon, a lamp, an alarm clock, a spare school uniform hanging on hangers in the corner of the room over a cased instrument- a cello, by the size of it. His only real possessions besides that were books, dozens of them in neat stacks along the floor by the closet, in half a dozen languages. She spotted English, of which she had a passable understanding, Japanese of course, French, and what she took to be Spanish, Russian and some that appeared to be in Latin, of all things. Many of them were cookbooks.

"Stop spying," Misato nudged her rips, and she slid the door shut. "I better not catch you sneaking in there tonight."

"Oh please," Asuka rolled her eyes.

"You need your rest," Misato went on. "You'll have synch tests and paperwork and whatever else Akagi can come up with after school tomorrow."

"School? What school?" she said, her stomach fluttering. "I don't need to go to school, I have a bachelor's degree!"

"You're going to school," Misato said, slipping into her Operations Director tone. "The command staff of NERV has an obligation to see that the pilots have as normal a life as possible," he tone shifted then, "I know it's a little scary going to school in a totally foreign country, Asuka, but Shinji will be with you. You'll be okay."

"I am _not_ scared," Asuka said coldly.


	3. School Day

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>A pure hand needs no glove to cover it. -~Nathaniel Hawthorne<p>

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><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 3- School Day

There was a daily rhythm to life in Tokyo-3 that Shinji could appreciate. Every morning at precisely six in the morning –there being no point in varying it, since the times of sunrise and sunset no longer changed all that much, drifting through a much slower and less profound progression- massive buildings covered with mirrors rose and rotated to draw the light of the sun down into the Geofront, and with them Shinji arose to enjoy the light of the sun on his skin through his tiny bedroom window. He sat bolt upright without yawning or stretching (he wasn't really sure he needed to sleep, but as far as he knew, it didn't hurt) and enjoyed the perhaps five to fifteen minutes of peace he would have before Misato stumbled her way out of her filthy bedroom and proceeded to greet the day with a can of beer. The difference being that this morning, Shinji was not alone and slightly startled by the lilting singing of a certain redheaded girl, who was serenading herself in the shower. Though he did not know the words he felt a certain peace in it; the song must have been a lullaby.

Remembering that he had to make breakfast for three and presumably lunch for two, he set about his tasks with his usual aplomb. Since no one was there to watch him, he could easily thread his way through the complex motions of preparing multiple different foods, moving so fast that he may as well have been in four places at once. He only slowed to a pace manageable by mortal men only when he heard Asuka turn off the shower and get to brushing her teeth. The sounds of her activities- the toothpaste tube being squeezed, the bristles on her teeth, the twisting of a stick of lip gloss, makeup pads and brushes drifting across her skin- joined with the daily symphony of people rising that hummed along in the background as he worked, like the heartbeat of the world. He was careful to be looking anywhere but at the space she would presently occupy when he heard her bare feet padding across the carpet, turning to catch a glimpse of her hair as she shook it free of her towel, still heavy with moisture like a paintbrush heavy with ochre, drawn across the canvas of the sunrise beyond the glass doors to the veranda.

A few minutes later, he was taking off his apron as she entered the kitchen, adjusting her school uniform, and he plated up her food. He assumed she would want eggs and toast, and prepared accordingly, slipping out of the apartment last night in total silence (it helped that his feet didn't have to touch the ground) to acquire some, although she was unsure of the selection of breakfast meat she would prefer. He set the plate of food in front of her with a flourish.

"I thought you people ate seaweed for breakfast or something?" she yawned.

"Sometimes we do, but you've travelled a long way and I thought some European food would make you feel more at home. Did I miss anything?"

"No, thank you," she said, hungrily digging into the eggs. "Wow, these are perfect. Did you season them with something?"

"Trade secret," he said sheepishly.

It was then that Misato stumbled into the kitchen, procured a can of beer from the refrigerator, and sat down. She put the can down for a moment, and Shinji checked to make sure that neither of them were looking at him, raised his glasses, and focused on the can for a moment. When the metal let out a small ping he returned to preparing Misato's own food as she popped the can open and took a long pull. She recoiled in disgust and put the can on the table.

"Blechhh, it's warm! What the hell?"

"Would you like some coffee instead?" Shinji asked, waving a can of chilled coffee in her face.

"What are you, a missionary or something?" she said, snatching the can from his grasp. "Okay, maybe just today, but they'll be cold by tomorrow."

He smirked to himself as he finished breakfast, knowing that little trick had worked for the last three days. Maybe a few more, and he could talk to her into 'cutting down' a bit, once it was out of her system. Something about the refrigerator fully stocked with junk food and booze disturbed him, though he knew not why. When Misato asked where her snacks went, he simply blamed it on the penguin, who presently waddled into the kitchen and stared at him expectantly until he put a plate of grilled fish on the floor. Once he had the lunches packed he returned to his bedroom, put on his school uniform, and made sure his _other_ uniform was carefully packed into a hidden compartment he'd sewn into his school bag, compressed so tight it would feel like padding at the bottom of the bag to anyone who didn't know the trick to opening it. Asuka was already heading out the door when he popped a piece of toast in his mouth (he wasn't hungry, and it fact couldn't remember being hungry, but liked toast) having not deigned to wait for him before setting off for school.

He caught up to her easily enough, watching with some amusement as she coordinated their position to her map, naturally taking the lead. For anyone else, the trek to school was a bit of a walk, but Shinji was unconcerned despite the weight of his bags. Asuka visibly straightened when she caught sight of the school, adjusted herself, and nearly bounded up the steps to the main entrance. Shinji followed in silence as she reported to the wizened school secretary, who poured over her transfer papers before providing her with a school identification card and directing her to her home room, which was, coincidentally, the same as Shinji's.

Shinji dutifully followed until they made their way into the room and Asuka presented herself to the class representative, Hikari Horaki. Shinji slipped away to seat himself at the rear of the classroom. Moments later, Toji Suzahara and Kensuke Aida dropped in beside him, the former crossing his legs on the desk in a pose of exaggerated calm while Aida pulled out his laptop and booted it up. Toji nodded at Asuka.

"Yo," he said, "who's the babe?"

Shinji wasn't sure how to explain her position to the two boys, it probably being classified and all. "Uh, she works for NERV."

"Another intern?" Kensuke said. "Hey, can you get me a job there? Please?"

Shinji sighed and ignored him.

"She let you walk her to school?" Toji said admiringly as he studiously examined Asuka's legs.

"No, she moved in with me and Misato.."

Shinji leaned his head on his hand and looked out the window, already longing for the day to end. It took him a moment to realize that his neighbors were staring at him.

"She what?" Kensuke said.

Toji took another long look. "I hate you," he muttered.

"Huh?"

"You're like, some kind of babe magnet."

Shinji sighed, then a pang of fear flowed through him as Asuka's eyes drifted his way and locked on Toji. She strutted to where the three of them sat and demanded, "What are you staring at, monkey boy?"

"Your legs," Toji replied, as if this were completely ordinary.

Asuka moved so fast that even Shinji was a little surprised, half dragging the boy out of his seat by the collar of his tracksuit.

"_Keep your eyes to yourself, primate,_", she growled, then roughly deposited him back in the desk before returning to chat more amiably with the class rep.

"She's some kind of devil," Toji whispered.

Kensuke apparently hadn't gotten the message. "She's like some kind of warrior goddess."

Shinji groaned. This was going to be a _long_ day.

SSSSS

Kaji pulled his white Lotus into the far end of the teacher's parking lot and verified that Shinji was seated in the back of the classroom via monocular, taking pains to appear as casual as possible. As he watched, the students jerked almost as one and stood up in unison, responding, as he anticipated, to the announcement of lunch. He waited a few moments as the students began to boil out of the school like ants from an anthill, spreading out in all directions to take up positions around the trees, on the sidewalks, and even the roof to eat their lunches. When he spotted Shinji wandering out, his bag over his shoulder, hands thrust in his pockets, staring pointedly at the ground and snatching the occasional glance at his former ward and another young girl with freckles and pigtails. Kaji briefly wondered which one he was looking at, and snickered when he realized that at that age he probably would have been chasing after them both. Kids had no idea how lucky they were in these times.

He put a dog whistle between his teeth, took a deep breath, and puffed as hard as he could. Shinji froze, his eyes darting to and fro, and Kaji let out another blast. After a moment, the boy's eyes settled on him- _exactly_ on him, with the same intensity as if he'd been standing just outside the car. He had to admit, that was a little unnvering. Shinji looked all around and carefully slipped away from the students, cutting behind a tree to obscure his departure. The five blatantly obvious Section 2 men were too busy following Asuka to notice him at all, which meant Ikari wasn't tailing the kid, or was having actual professionals do it. When he was sure the boy was looking at him, he put the car and gear and pulled out onto the highway, motioning for him to follow.

He drove for a time, checking his watch, then pulled into a parking lot he'd scouted earlier for this purpose, behind an unused little storefront. He got out of the car and started in surprise when Shinji was already there, hands still thrust in his pockets, staring at him intently through useless glases. Kaji had the profound feeling that Shinji was looking through him, somehow, especially when his eyes settled on the exact spot where he kept his Hechler and Kock USP tucked into his waistband, the ghost of a smirk dancing across his lips.

"You wanted to talk," Shinji shrugged. "Let's talk."

Kaji put a half-crushed cigarette in his mouth, didn't light it, and leaned against the fender of the car, studying the boy for a moment. Controlling the timbre and pacing of a conversation was vital to maintaining an air of control.

"How's Asuka doing?"

"Fine, I guess. It's only been one day."

"I'm a little worried about her. She's not as strong as you think she is."

"She seems pretty hardheaded to me," Shinji shrugged. "She held her own against some of the guys."

"Glass seems hard," Kaji lit his cigarette, "until you hit it the wrong way, or drop it, then it shatters. Can I trust you around her, Shinji?"

He blinked. "I guess?"

"You guess," the older man laughed, his cigarette bouncing on his lips. "She's like my daughter, boy. I expect you to watch out for her, and be a gentleman. If you don't, if there's way out there to hurt you, I'll find it."

Shinji's eyes widened. "I would never hurt her."

Kaji studied him for a moment. "You know, I believe you. I really do. Something in the tone of your voice. The problem is, you've chosen to involve yourself in something dangerous, kid. The minute you got here, put on that suit, and involved yourself, you stuck your thumb in the eye of the most dangerous men in the world."

He flicked his cigarette at Shinji, who caught it in his fist. Wisps of smoke curled around his fingers for an instant, and then died. He dropped the butt on the ground.

"Did that hurt?"

"No."

"You're pretty tough, right?"

"I guess." He shrugged again. "I'm not really sure. I got caught up in the explosion in the last battle and I came out okay. I'm not really sure what my limits are."

"What, exactly, can you do? So far, I've seen flight, speed, strength, and durability. Is that it?"

He shook his head. "No. The speed came first. I remember that from when I was little. I didn't fit it at the school in my uncle's village. Some bullies chased me, and I outran them easily. I started to run, a lot. One day I noticed was running faster than a car, and I kept getting faster, and I could jump higher. One time I decided to see how high I could jump, and I just didn't come down. If I look at something the right way, I can see right through it, or make it heat up just by concentrating on one spot. I think I can see more colors than you can, too."

Kaji nodded. "That's good to know. There's one thing you're not getting."

"What's that?"

"You may be invincible, but everyone else isn't. If the wrong people decide they need to influence you, everyone around you is in danger. You have to be _careful._"

"I know."

"Do you? You don't even wear a mask!"

"I thought about it, but it didn't feel right. Nobody's recognized me yet."

"I knew before I got here."

"You did?" Shinji blinked.

"I did," Kaji said, getting back into his car. "I know a lot of things, but there's a lot more. Once I know I can trust you, that you can be smart, I'll start bringing you in on it. I could use your help."

"Help to do what?"

"Save the world," he said, and drove off.

SSSSS

Shinji returned to find a knot of students gathered around Toji and Kensuke, newspapers grasped in their hands. The sight struck him as somewhat odd, since neither of them struck him as the type to follow that sort of thing very closely. Toji raised his copy of the paper in triumph, waving it around so all could see.

"I told you!" he cried, "I'm not crazy!"

Shinji froze when he saw what, exactly, Toji wasn't crazy about, and recognized himself in a blurry, black and white still from a camera phone. He made his way over to the knot of students, talking animatedly and excitedly about the figure in the picture. There were half a dozen headlines, "Mysterious Savior", "Secret Hero of Tokyo-2", "Flying Man Rescues Crashing Airplane", but one that stuck out most of all, one that spawned a word that moved from person to person, all of whom repeated it, demanding, "_Who is Superman?"_

Shinji sighed. He noticed Asuka standing off to the side, staring at the knot of students, a dark look on her face. At her feet was a copy of the newspaper, her patent leather shoe grinding it into the ground as Hikari looked on beside her. He wondered if he should say something and started walking towards her when the angry moan of the Angel Alarm filled his ears and panic washed around him like a wave.

SSSSS

Asuka found her stomach fluttering as she depressed the control switch on her wrist and with a hiss of air her plugsuit slid into place, tightly hugging every inch of her body from toe to neck. She'd been wearing the suits so long that it felt completely natural to her, and she felt neither self-conscious nor self-aware as she strode confidently out of the locker room to confront her new chariot. She resisted the temptation to cover her eyes as she stepped out into the Evangelion cage, instead letting her eyes adjust naturally, her confident stride unbroken. She had been waiting her entire life for this moment, twelve years of hard training and rigorous preparation, and she wanted everything to be perfect.

Unit-01 stood grotesquely in the cage, staring down on the world around it like a metallic gargoyle. Some of the repaired sections of armor were still covered with gray primer, the layers of composite and metal having not been fully painted. She made note of where and how large these sections were, as they represented a liability. The paint wasn't just for show, it provided protection from electric discharges and helped ground the Eva and prevent overloads. The massive machine's head was craned forward to expose the entry plug. She ascended the steps with a purpose, slipped into the plug, and tensed as it jolted home, burying itself in the Eva's torso.

The startup sequence was comfortable, familiar, and routine. She was surprised, she'd heard that Unit-01 was buggy, and a few of the techs that had transferred to NERV-Berlin used to joke that it was haunted, sometimes calling it "she". Asuka cared little for such foolish superstitions. She particularly loathed the way that the technicians had jokes that Unit-02 was painted red because it made it "go faster". Colors swirled around her and she let her mind drift, float until she felt the presence of the machine at the back of her head, like the ghostly tail of a cat running across the base of her neck. The sensation grew until she became vaguely aware of arms and legs not her own, the way a drunk is aware of his own limbs, stronger and stronger until only rigorous mental discipline allowed her to send commands to a body not her own. She opened her eyes and saw the through those of the great machine. The jolt of acceleration came as she rocketed skyward.

"Let's go, Asuka", she whispered as the Eva broke the surface.

SSSSS

Kensuke aimed his camera at the city and Toji immediately began to regret this. After the last time, he'd had his fill of battles and explosions and giant robots, but his friend still insisted on playing at war, waving his camera around as if becoming an observer would magically shield them. He looked back at the heavy metal vault door that was the entrance to the shelter with a certain longing, and grabbed Kensuke's shoulder to urge him to go back. The other boy ignored him, and when he turned, he saw why.

This one could fly. It was enormous, as big as a skyscraper, and came low over the hills, its shadow sliding over the ground before it. It looked and move like a squid, and yet had the countenance of an insect, with a huge bulbous head and many grasping, waving arms hanging below its body. It apparently had no eyes, instead there were huge markings on its back, like the false eyes certain moths use to appear larger when faced with a predator. The creature threaded between the downtown buildings, the ones that hadn't sunk into the ground, as a shark on the hunt would prowl around a coral reef. It sensed its target and two long thin trails of light whipped out before it and segmented one of the armored buildings into four neat pieces which slid apart and clattered to the ground with a distant rumble and a cloud of smoke. Toji remembered the last time he'd seen that happen and hoped that no one was in them, or that if they were, they were being helped by a man who could fly.

All at once, it was there. Toji felt a pang of resentment as he saw the machine rise from the ground, hunched with its great horned head like an ogre of legend. This time, though, its movements were quick, clean, and precise. It cleared the launch pad with astonishing speed, each step sending shivers up his legs. Kensuke muttered a curse as the vibrations showed up on his camera. The boy was staring into his viewscreen, totally oblivious to the world around him. Toji could have broken an egg over his head and swirled it in his hair and he wouldn't have noticed. The world of his dreams was unfolding before him.

The Evangelion darted behind one of the buildings, which opened up with a great metallic groaning sound as huge shutters rolled up, revealing a massive rifle which the machine took and sprinted to the next position, long cord trailing behind it. The Angel looked about with its not-eyes and cried out in surprise when the Evangelion rose up from behind cover and opened fire, each shot thumping like rolling thunder from a summer storm. The shells exploded all about the creature, wreathing it in smoke, flame, and clouds of shrapnel like angry insects. There was a wailing sound as the cloud expanded, and Toji's breath caught. The Evangelion vaulted the line of armor slabs and moved forward slowly in a half-crouch, weapon trained on the cloud.

Toji yelped involuntarily as the Angel rose up behind it. Kensuke paled, lowering his camera ever so slightly, and they both began to call out, as if somehow the pilot could hear them. Their cries faded as the thing's light-whips lashed out, severing the power cord, and it surged forward, butting the robot in the back. The Evangelion stumbled forward, dropping the rifle, scrambled, and with oddly human movements got to its feet just as the thing whipped it again, drawing long contrails of smoke from where the light touched metal. The machine stumbled again and turned, one of the massive pylons atop its shoulder flopping open to reveal something that looked absurdly like a gigantic pocketknife. It swiped feebly at the Angel, which darted back, curling like snake about to strike. Twin light whips wrapped round its arms and the entire beast lurched backwards, lifting as it did, dragging the Evangelion up. Its size gave it an absurd illusion of moving in slow motion as it sailed through the air.

Right at Toji and Kensuke.

It was useless to run, and they both knew it as the shadow fell over them. For the second time in as many weeks, Toji felt ice forming in the pit of the stomach, although this time there was no urge to hug the person he was about to die next to. The Evangelion drew closer and Kensuke started to run. Toji closed his eyes, feeling the rush of air as it came down on them, and again opened his eyes in shock as the wind was all there was that fell across him.

"You again?" Superman said to Toji as he held the Evangelion's massive hand with one of his own, the other perched on his hip in a fist. Toji neither nodded nor protested, instead looking up at the hand that shadowed them like the limbs of a mighty tree. For what seemed an eternity the three figures stood, until the Evangelion sat up, leaving a deep furrow in the Earth behind it, the hand moving away, totally unaware of what had just happened.

"Get inside," he said without anger, without reproach, only with concern. Toji nodded and grabbed his friend, dragging him away.

"You're ruining my shot!"

"I hate you," Toji muttered.

SSSSS

Asuka at that moment did something very un-Asuka like, which is to say she screamed. _Like a little girl,_ some angry, mal-formed part of her mind whispered, and she choked it down. She forced her eyes open. She had to be calm. The burning on her legs and arms and back was tactile interface, a way to alert her to damage, no more, no less. The Operations Director was yelling at her, buzzing in her ear like a gnat.

"Get back to the pad!" Misato demanded. "We'll re-equip and regroup below, then put you up through another shaft. It's not trying to get into the Geofront yet."

"Roger," Asuka growled. She wanted, desperately, to kill the thing, to prove her worth, but she was a _soldier_, not a warrior, trained to accept the commands of her superiors and recognize that her place, while unique and vital, was part of a vast network of people that made the Evangelions into effective fighting machines. She was the point of the spear, but the people below her, who demanded her protection even as they aided her battle, were the hand, arm, and shoulder that threw the spear.

Then, the Angel rammed its whips right through the Eva's torso, and she felt as if two white hot wires rammed into her ribs. _On second thought, I'm killing you,_ she thought as she shrieked in fury and grabbed the beast with both of the Eva's hands and kicked it hard, sending it backwards, and rolled to her feet. She could _feel_ herself drawing into the machine as she charged forward, firsts flying. Thirty seconds. Plenty of time. Each blow rang like a bell, and the thing cried out in pain. _Your turn,_ she thought.

Lines of light crossed the Eva's vision. The whips coiled 'round and 'round the Eva's head and neck and squeezed, digging into the armor, and she swore she felt it too, burning her face, crushing her throat. Bubbles formed in the LCL as she scrabbled for air, clawing at herself, forgetting which hands were hers and which were the Evangelion's. Spots swam in her vision. Nineteen seconds. First battle, last battle. _I'm dead._

Then, like something out of a dream, he was there. Feet planted on the Evangelion's faceplate, mirrored by two tiny spots of pressure on her forehead, he bent down and took hold of the monster's whips and pulled, and she let out an involuntary gasp as she felt them sliding across the Evangelion's armor plate. She saw him strain, cords standing out on his neck, saw him part the whip. It snapped where he pulled, and the part not attached to the creature turned gray and lifeless and fell away, like an old, soiled clothesline. One more. He took the other and pulled and pulled but the creature held on tenaciously now, driven by hate, wanting to hurt the one who hurt it. She forgot the battle, forgot her pain, forget everything for a moment. It was almost comical. He picked it up and pulled it between his teeth and he _bit_, he _bit_ the thing right in two, and the pressure released, oh the blessed release, and with a deep breath of heavy, cloying LCL she slid backwards, reaching for her resolve, and in the end it didn't matter because five, four, three-

There was a flash of light as the Evangelion went dead and black around her and she was alone with her own limbs.

SSSSS

Misato stood at attention, arms at her sides, back arched, her best blank look on her face as the two top men of NERV faced her down. She was both upset and relieved that Asuka wasn't forced to attend this in person, afraid of how she would react to the cold judgment of old men she barely knew. Instead she was in the medical ward, resting after her ordeal, her face criss-crossed by red marks like sunburn. She was lucky; sunburn was, effectively, all there was.

"This is unacceptable," Gendo Ikari said in his cold, hissing voice.

"In her defense, this was her first sortie against a live opponent and-"

"I am uninterested in her defense. I am interested in _our_ defense. The survival of the human race is at stake, Captain. I expect you to discipline her appropriately for her insubordination. I consider today's events a breakdown in the chain of command. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then you are dismissed."

Misato saluted, turned sharply, and left the room as quickly as she could without making it obvious that she was doing so. When she left the room she slumped. It really _wasn't_ Asuka's fault; her performance was perfect. It was Misato's own, for not reminding her subordinate to check her six. She would make sure to incorporate that in future training scenarios. She had already written some in her mind when she pushed the elevator button and Ritsuko emerged. She nodded to her old friend and got on the elevator. One having left and one approaching _The Tomb, _neither was in the mood for conversation and both knew it, having read each other for so long. She pushed the button for the level of the infirmary and sank against the back wall of the elevator when she knew she was alone.

SSSSS

Shinji paused in chopping the vegetables for a moment to examine his hands. Neither was burnt, which surprised him, he wasn't even marked. He did have a rather odd taste in his mouth, though, which was to be expected. He didn't_ want_ to bite the thing, but he panicked a bit when he saw the burn marks appearing on Asuka's face, peering with his strange sight through the body of the Evangelion. The core was hard, harder than anything, and he'd had to pound it with all his might to shatter it. When the thing died the force of the blast knocked him clear through one of the (thankfully empty) armored buildings the city incorporated for covered firing positions. He was glad he'd thought to push it away from the Evangelion. He finished dumping the cut veggies into the soup and turned to the deep fried tofu, then straightened when he heard Misato's car door. They were home.

The door slid open and Misato entered the kitchen, a sour look on her face as he heard Asuka slam the screen door to her room and throw herself down on the futon, her heart beating like a drum, her breathing ragged, a sob dying in her throat.


	4. Sound of Thunder

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

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><p>Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. - Mark Twain<p>

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><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 4- Sound of Thunder

The secret was out, but that was much less of a problem than Shinji Ikari had anticipated. Thankfully, only Toji and Kensuke were witnesses to the battle and their tape ended well before Asuka ran out of power, but the combination of half the student body having seen the tape and the fading marks on Asuka's face the next day at school made it obvious to anyone that she was the pilot of the machine, convincing even Toji who'd told everyone who would listen (once his story of the flying super strong man turned out not to be utterly insane) that the pilot was a mysterious, silent, pale waif. He'd actually used the word _waif_, which was much more of a shock to everyone involved than the revelationthat the brash German exchange student was a giant mecha pilot.

Asuka, for her part, was apparently comforted by the sudden ring of groupies that surrounded her as she made her way out of the school to eat the lunch that Shinji made for her, but was not permitted to share. Today, as it had been for the last week, It was his lot to watch from afar with Toji and Kensuke, who formed the other two parts of the trio that the red-headed pilot had named "The Three Stooges". Toji's most eloquent reply to this had been a stream of profanity ending in an accusation of the canine variety, which prompted Asuka to slap the young gentlemen. Shinji could have caught her hand, of course, but elected not to.

"I don't know what you see in her," Toji said, sitting against the tree against which Shinji leaned, watching the city from afar.

"Huh?" Shinji said.

"You like her, right?" Kensuke said, clicking away at his laptop. "You make her lunches and stuff, and you carried her books."

"She was hurt fighting the Angel. Besides, I make Misato's lunch, too. I do their laundry, too."

"Lay off her, man," Toji said playfully, "She's mine."

Shinji rolled his eyes. "Sure, Toji. That'll happen."

"It ain't like I've got many options here," he took a bite of a sandwich, "Half the girls our age are over there with _her._"

"She has come from foreign climes to corrupt our womenfolk," Kensuke added sagely.

"Dude, what?" Shinji said through a bite of sandwich.

"Nevermind."

"It's like, she projects this magic bitch field, and all the other girls are inside the bitch field, encircled by her bitchiness." Toji added sagely.

Shinji quirked an eyebrow. "Did you just say 'encircled'?"

"Yeah. So?"

"That was oddly poetic."

Kensuke snickered.

"Just because I work out, people think I'm this dumb jock," Toji said. "I can be eloquent, you know, if I wanna."

"Uh uh," Kensuke said. "I think I found a buyer for our video."

"Really?"

Shinji cringed. He'd been lucky so far- this time he remembered to move his face, just a bit, but faster than any human possibly could, so even on a digital video his features were blurry enough that he couldn't be identified, but who knew what kind of image enhancing technology was out there? He might walk to school one day to see a perfect image of his face on the front page of every paper. Then again, Asuka, and Toji had both seen him up close in broad daylight more than once and didn't identify him. He tried to change his voice and he knew his posture was different. Kaji didn't count; he knew anyway, so no help there.

"Besides," Toji said, "Superman is real strong, and I bet he's not dumb."

"Of course not," Kensuke said. "He's a hero. Heroes are smart and brave."

"I bet he's got it all figured out," Toji said. "All kinds of stuff."

Shinji gazed across the school yard at Asuka. For a moment their gaze met, and her bright blue eyes were an utter mystery to him, as a bright placid sea hides its own depths from the eyes of those who gaze upon it. He blushed and snapped away, but could see that her manic tone in talking to her newfound friends hadn't faltered, that she hadn't skipped a beat.

"Yeah," Shinji sighed, "He's got it all figured out."

SSSSS

Rei Ayanami's good eye snapped open and she sat up in her bed to find a nurse wheeling a plate of hospital food under a plastic cover meant to keep it warm. She watched the woman, who quailed slightly under her impassive gaze. Before Eva, when Rei was younger, the other children had called her a freak, and were angry with her for staring at them. She decided that the environment outside the school was more interesting and less abrasive, and so from that day forward concentrated her attentions on the trees and the rocks and grass and the blue sky, and the occasional flock of birds that might fly by. These were less remote to her than her classmates, as this woman was now. She noticed something odd. There were flowers in her room, chrysanthemums, and the smell of the mingled with the smell of disinfectant and urine that permeated the infirmary.

"What are those?" she asked, her gaze flitting to the flowers.

"Oh," the nurse said absently, "that sweet boy with the glasses brought those for you. Said the room was a little drab. I guess he was right."

The woman was fat and old and Rei was not interested in her, and so did not reply. She did not remember any 'sweet boy with glasses', but she did remember, after the angel battle, a warm hand that closed around hers and soft words that told her she would be alright, and that she believed without hesitation. She looked at the flowers again and considered them. They were pleasing to look at, their many petals and organic, flowing lines inviting to the eye. She reached out and brushed the flowers with her fingers, feeling the soft edges of the petals play over her fingertips. She did not understand the nature of this gesture. She understood concern- the Commander and Doctor Akagi had shown her concern, for her physical wellbeing and her ability to pilot. The Commander required her to socialize with him at a biweekly dinner, although he did not speak overmuch. No one had ever given her flowers.

The reasoning behind this gift confused her. She herself had no interest in ornamentation. Her belongs were entirely functional, entirely minimal. She had enough school uniforms to fulfill her needs for daily clothing and being neither especially warm nor especially cold in her apartment she simply slept in the nude. The only non-functional object in her apartment was the pair of glasses she'd taken from the Commander, which were cracked and broken. She did not know why she kept them, only that she felt she should, as a token. Perhaps the flowers were a token, but their meaning remained a mystery to her.

She looked up and realized that the Commander had entered the room. She fixed her attention on him, he who stared down unsmiling at her.

"Rei?"

"Yes?"

"Your injuries are sufficiently healed for you to return to school. Is there anything you require?"

"No."

"What is this?" he said, picking up the tiny plastic vase and the flowers contained within. He turned them around in his hand, studying them.

"They are a gift."

"From who?"

"I do not know his name. He visited me after the battle."

"You do not need flowers," the Commander said, and dumped them in the trash. "You will remain here for observation for twenty-four hours, then you will return to your quarters."

"Yes," she said.

After he departed, her eyes drifted to the wastebasket where the now folded, ruined flowers lay sprawled against sterile white plastic. She agreed with the Commander, as she always did, that she did not need flowers. Nor would she take them, or disturb them from their place. She did, however, have another feeling, a faint ghost of a thing that settled in the back of her mind.

She thought she _wanted_ flowers.

SSSSS

Ritsuko Akagi stopped typing and jerked upright as a pair of warm, strong arms encircled her neck in a casual embrace, fingertips hovering suggestively just above the fabric of her uniform jumpsuit where it was pulled tight by the swell of her bust. She felt stubble against her cheek and hot breath in her ear.

"You've lost weight."

She shrugged Kaji off and turned in her chair, gaping in shock above her reading glasses. The man looked like he hadn't aged a day, and yet the Kaji she'd known was a skinny college senior hidden away inside a well-built man, hiding, she noted, under a loose half-tucked shirt and shapeless salaryman's slacks in an attempt to hide the signs of intense physical fitness. She leaned back in her chair.

"That was a little lame," she smirked. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that if you compliment their weight, they'll assume you think they're fat? Only fat people care about losing weight."

"Wow," Kaji smirked, scratching the back of his head. "Somebody got bitten by the cynicism bug."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"You have a way of disarming a man," he recovered smoothly, taking a seat beside her, pulling his wheeled office chair close enough that their arms touched. Damned office chairs.

"You really shouldn't be here," she said, remembering to lock the screen on her terminal. Thankfully, she kept the really risk material for when most of the staff went home. Having Ibuki poking around in the secret plans to end the world wouldn't be a very good idea.

"Don't worry, I covered my tracks," Kaji gestured to the security cameras (including the hidden ones), "there's a loop of your lovely fingers type-type-typing away on the feed right now."

"True," she deadpanned, looking past him, "but you should have covered the windows."

The man's head swiveled around he went pale when he sat Misato pressed against the glass, which seemed under the verge of cracking from the pressure of her fingertips (not to mention other parts of her anatomy- all that ramen and snack food seemed to magically end up in her bra, somehow) and Ritsuko stifled a giggle. It sounded foreign on her lips.

"It may be time I beat a hasty retreat," Kaji mused as he slipped out the door.

Ritsuko smirked as she heard Misato berating him for his lechery and assorted other crimes, and turned back to her work, her fingers dancing across the keyboard. A ding from the machine told her she had a new message, and she opened it with a flick of the keys. The commander wanted to see her. Lovely. She sighed, logged out of the terminal, and slipped out of the office, making sure the bickering couple were nowhere in sight before she headed for the elevator.

As ever, the Commander's office stood open, inviting any who dared presume upon his time to enter. She walked right in and, finding him alone, coughed to make her presence known. He looked up from whatever he was doing and assumed that damnable pose of his, staring across his hands at her behind sunglasses that he wore indoors for some reason. She sighed, wondering why he kept up the pretense given that she's seen him sans gloves (and everything else) more than once. He slipped his fingers apart, reached into his desk, and slid a small container across his desk. She took that as a signal to approach.

"This is?" she said, picking up the small black box.

"A sample," he said, "I want it analyzed."

"Where did it come from?"

"Certain pieces of debris from the battle against the Third, and scrapings from the battle against the Fourth."

"What, exactly, am I looking for?" she said, slipping the box into her pocket.

"The image of God," Gendo said, resuming his façade.

To her consternation, Kaji was in the elevator when she left the office, and put an arm around her, grinning. "Oh, Rits, it's so good to be back among all my friends."

"Lout," she huffed, shrugging him off.

She didn't notice the small object he'd recovered from her lab coat.

SSSSS

"Have you seen Toji's video?" Hikari asked as she and Asuka ascended the steps into the school, shooting the boy a knowing look as she did, although he of course remained entirely oblivious, like the other two goons he hung around with.

"So did you see… him?"

"Who?" Asuka said, her tone cooling.

"You know, Superman! He was there. He kept those idiots from being killed."

"Yeah," Asuka said, "I saw the glory hound. He should mind his business and let the professionals handle it. I've been training since I was six!"

"Wow," Hikari mused, "that's a long time."

She glanced behind them. The Three Stooges were bringing up the rear. The little, geeky one was staring openly at her butt, and she had half a mind to go back there and thrash him, except that Shinji saw, glanced at his friend, and elbowed him, whispering something to him that Asuka couldn't hear. Kensuke looked a little sheepish, and Shinji surprised her. He looked angry. She didn't think he had it him, with his little apron and his cooking. The other boy, the tall one, grinned stupidly at Hikari, who actually smiled back, to Asuka disappointment.

Then the Angel alarm went off. Seriously?

SSSSSS

"Ready to launch, Captain," Maya said, and Misato nodded.

The vast expanse of the "bridge" yawned before her. The command center was constructed not unlike the conning tower of a submarine above the sea of machinery and support networks that composed the MAGI system, centered on the three spherical computer nodes beneath her. The three technicians in front of her set to work, and a variety of views appeared above her on an enormous holographic screen overlaid with topographic maps, technical readouts, and other data. The Angel was too far out to pick up on the remote camera system, and so they watched it by low earth orbit satellite.

After the hulking Third Angel and the insectoid Fourth, Misato expected the Fifth to continue to trend, appearing as some sort of conglomeration of a dozen different animal species writ large and gifted with the ability to hover. Instead, she was confronted with an enormous, glassy octahedron that if cut in half would have put the Great Pyramid to shame. The creature, if it could be called that, floated slowly towards Tokyo-3 over one of the outlying lakes, taking its time to approach. Every few seconds, at regular intervals, it beeped, as if it was sending out some sort of signal. Misato tapped her chin.

"Asuka," she said.

"Captain," Asuka said. Her face on the screen was a mask of concentration, she gripped the butterfly grips tightly, as if she was afraid she would lose them. She stared over Misato's shoulder at the Commander; the reproach had come from her, but the girl knew its true origin. Ikari said nothing, didn't even move, like a statue.

"Assume nothing. We're going to probe it with remote defenses to see how it reacts before we send you up."

"Affirmative."

"Hyuga?"

"Yes, ma'am?" the bespectacled technician half turned.

"Bring the outer defense line online and shoot a missile at it."

He complied, taping out the commands on his keyboard. Remote view showed a missle launcher pop up from a hillside. The projectile streaked out on the end of a streamer of smoke and vanished, and the view snapped wide again as the sat feed picked it up as it streaked over its target, the whole scene made even more surreal by the bizarre perspective of the orbital camera, which put everything not far from the ground.

"Energy build up," Aoba said, "It's doing something."

There was a low rumble and the Angel shot out a concentrated beam of purple light that strained Misato's eyes, forcing her to turn away. The missle was swept from the sky in a puff of burning fuel and unspent explosives, and the beam swept the hillside, eradicating the defensive launchers and leaving a deep furrow of charred, smooth earth in its wake. It continued on apace, without slowing or diverting.

Misato tapped her chin. "Did we get a power readout on that beam?"

"Massive," Aoba said. "I don't think the Eva could take much of that."

"Then we need to take it out before it takes us out. Asuka?"

"Here."

"I'm sending you up in launcher nine. Two blocks west there's a long range rifle. When I give the go, I need you to get to it as soon as you hit the surface, get a shot off as fast as you can, and then pull back whether it hits or not. Understood?"

"Understood."

Misato nodded. "When will it be in range of her weapon?"

"The MAGI calculate it will be within effective range in twenty seconds," Maya replied.

"When I send her up, I want the nearby launch tubes open so she has a quick escape," Misato announced, and the technicians set to prepping them. "Give me a count down. Ready, Asuka?"

"Yes."

Maya began counting down. Misato tensed, her fingers closing around her arms as she waited. She closed her eyes and listened as the last numbers were called, "three… two… one…"

The base shuddered as the Eva launched skyward, rocketing up and out of the Geofront. The other tubes fell open with a series of hollow booms, and Asuka was on the surface. She wasted no time, dropping her umbilical- she wouldn't need it anyway, and it could tangle her up, a wise decision- and sprinted to the rifle, then half-skidded into position behind a cover wall. She rested the rifle across the barrier, waited for targeting telemetry, and then fired. So did the Angel. She missed. It didn't.

Her shot went wide, knocked aside by the Angel's energy field as it shrieked, an undearthly wail that penetrated the Geofront itself, seeming to soak into Misato's very bones. She flinched. Asuka was already up and moving, heading for the nearest launch pad, but it was a close run thing. The Angel broke sudden, shattered into a thousand, a million pieces, and then with a great metallic clang snapped back into place, reformed as a wedge. A much greater light pulsed within it and then lanced out as a beam, reaching for Asuka.

She wasn't going to make it.

"Get her cover! Now! Every armor plate!"

The technicians nodded and the armor plates rose with agonizing slowness, and one after another melted and folded under the Angel's beam. Misato's breath caught. Asuka was almost there. Almost. The beam caught her full on, blew the Evangelion off its feet. Asuka's scream rang like a bell in the bridge. The armor plates rose and were swept away as the Angel's furious assault continued.

"She'll be dead in ten seconds," Maya shouted, panicked. "The LCL is going to boil!"

"Asuka! Jump!"

Unit-01 struggled, reached for the open port, and found purchase, dragging itself forward with its fingers. Asuka's screaming had faded into an agonized grunt, and on screen she was grimacing, trickles of blood mingling with the LCL in front of her nose and face. The heat had increased the pressure, but to slacken it might kill her. She was almost in, almost there.

Then, the beam diverted. It split, divided in two, digging deep furrows in the armor plating to either side of her. There was just enough time. She rolled into the opening and flopped onto the pad, the Eva curled in the fetal position, barely fitting through the opening as it dropped down, pulling her to safety. The beam died as she disappeared, and furious activity broke out.

"Recovery team! Now I want her in the infirmary ten minutes ago!"

SSSSSS

Shinji hit the ground hard, the pavement cracking at the impact. For the better part of a minute he lay panting, gasping for air. He'd never been hit that hard before, and couldn't believe he'd even dreamed of pushing the beam back, defeating the thing somehow. He pushed himself into a crouch, and then got up, still shaking, leaning on his knees to keep from falling over. In the shadow of the ruined armor plates he panted, and when he tried to walk, he fell against the side of a building. He glanced up at the Angel, and realized that he couldn't possibly stop it alone. He saw heat waves rising from his hands and made his down the street to a fire extinguisher, tore the top off in a single, expansive motion and bathed himself in cool water, which turned to steam when it touched his body. His costume had survived, but his cape was gone, vaporized in the blast. He wasn't quite sure what that meant.

Feeling clearer, he took off, keeping low so the Angel wouldn't see him- he had no idea if it would attack him directly. It certainly saw the Evangelion as more of a threat. He snuck a glance at it now and then, looming over the rooftops. It continued its slow advance on the city, as if nothing had happened at all. There was nothing he could do for now, and so he decided to recover his school uniform and see what Shinji Ikari could do.

SSSSSS

Asuka woke shivering in a darkened hospital room and tried to sit up, but her body ignored her commands. Instead she fell back into the bed and listened to the rhythmic beeping of the monitors they'd attached to her, glued all over her torso. Her face felt sore. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but no sleep came, only visions of a searing light that wanted to burn her soul. Her eyes snapped awake when she sensed a quiet presence in the room, and she turned her head, pulling at the oxygen tube snaking beneath her nose.

"Shinji?" she croaked. Her lips were chapped.

He nodded. He lifted a little cup of juice with a straw in it. "Thirsty?"

She nodded and gratefully took a sip, the sweet, cool juice like salve in her raw throat. She felt like she'd been screaming for hours. He put the cup down and sat down next to her, moved as if he was going to take her hand, and then thought better of it. That was for the best. She felt like she had sunburn all over.

"You're really red," he said, apropos of nothing. She scowled at him.

"I thought you liked red?" he smirked.

"Dummkopf," she said hoarsely, "don't make me laugh."

He smiled then, a sad, soft smile, and she saw something eyes she'd never noticed before. She could search for a descriptor, if she wanted to, but in the wisdom that comes only when one is heavily sedated, her mind find the perfect, poetic way of putting it. His eyes were like hers.

"Ikari?"

Shinji turned, and Asuka's eyes followed him. Standing at the door was a pale, unearthly creature, regarding her with red, red eyes. Something in Asuka quivered at the sight of her, shook under that gaze. There was an odd familiarity to her, under the bandages. She looked almost like… no, the hair was wrong, and she… it made no sense. She dismissed it from her mind.

Shinji smiled warmly, but it was different somehow. "Hello, Rei. I'm glad you're up and about."

"You will leave," Rei said without ceremony, "I must discuss the details of the forthcoming operation with Pilot Soryu. You do not have clearance."

Sighing, Shinji took his leave, glancing one last time at Asuka. She closed her eyes and listened to Rei drone on about Operation Yashima and found that now that she could sleep, she wasn't allowed.


	5. Push

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength." - Arnold Schwarzenegger<p>

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 5- Push

Asuka took a deep breath of fresh, cool night air and gazed up at Rei, who stood silhouetted against the moon, not far from the improvised outdoor Evangelion cage where she would mount Unit-0 and hold up the massive orbital heat shield that would be her only protection from the Angel's blast. So far, they were out of range, and the thing had ignored them, busily working on digging its way into the Geofront to do God knows what. Moonlight bathed the hills north of Tokyo-3, and the appointed hour of midnight neared, when the Angel would piece the armor, attack Dogma itself, and either Asuka would kill it or the human race would perish.

The last eight hours had been frantic. Asuka was aware, of course, of Misato's commanding side- she'd often chafed under it in Germany, where Misato designed the training simulators that were all she had to prepare for the real thing. She didn't resent Misato not anticipating the Angel's forms; she realized that no one could. She did resent her attentions towards Kaji, the looks they'd shared in the month or two they occupied the same space, when Asuka was around twelve years old, before Misato left for Japan to begin preparing to fight the war, the only war that would matter. Asuka's war.

Somehow, the woman had wrangled the entire power output of the entire nation for this, to be directed through the huge bank of transformers at Asuka's rear into the prototype antimatter particle canon that had been crudely adapted into a gargantuan sniper rifle, so huge that the Evangelion couldn't actually walk with it, and Unit-0 was needed to manhandle it into place. The other pilot was a mystery to Asuka, and saying little, and Asuka was content to leave her to whatever it was she was thinking about. She was _weird._

She glanced at her watch. The appointed hour was at hand. She sprinted for the plug, the cool air a relief on her irritated face.

SSSSS

Rei was to assume her position first. It was assumed that the Angel would not recognize Unit-0 as a threat at this distance, or if it did, that taking the time to build up sufficient energy for a strike would give Pilot Soryu the time needed to fire the weapon and destroy the core. She took a deep breath and rested her good hand on the control in front of her, relieved that she would not have to engage in melee. She was almost fully healed, now. She would not need to be replaced. She felt somewhat indifferent about that. She only knew that she must succeed, that if she did not, she would fail.

A thought rose in her mind, unbidden. If she failed, Ikari would die. Not Commander Ikari. Shinji Ikari. The source of this feeling puzzled her. She dismissed these thoughts and focused on opening her heart to Eva, and Eva answered her, although with less ease than Unit-01 worked for her comrade. She willed the machine to rise and it did, lifted the heat shield as a knight would, though the sword was not for her, but in the hands of another. She took her position, providing as much cover as she could for Pilot Soryu, who finally approached in Unit-01 and settled in behind the particle cannon.

In the distance, the Angel remained situated over Tokyo-3, in the very center, its lower extremity extended into a revolving drill that currently was mere meters away from breaching the Geofront. Zero hour had arrived, and behind her she felt as much as heard the thrum of an entire nation's power supply welling up in a vast array of mobile transformers. Soryu had one, perhaps two shots, and then the entire thing would explode, overloaded, unless it was shut down. She watched through the corner of Eva's eye as the massive cannon's fuse assembly was cycled into place and waited patiently for Soryu to fire.

The Angel anticipated them. It shrieked its unholy shriek and withdrew from its task, clattering and clanking as it broke apart and reformed into its wedge-shape, the shape where it directed the most power into its beam. There was a tense moment as the cannon and the Angel charged their weapons and then Soryu fired, the beam of brilliant, blinding white light lanced out, turning night into day and leaving a streak of purple eye strain across Rei's vision. She braced the Eva against the shield as the Angel fired. The two beams met in the air and twisted, knocking each other off course. The particle beam left a streak of fire through the rear of the Angel as it punched through, yet missed the core. She would have to fire again. The Angel's own beam returned to true, and carved away the hill that was their refuge like so much old cake. The beam hit Rei's shield full force, and she felt Eva's legs bucking beneath her. Her injuries lanced with pain, and she realized that she was about to fail, and thus about to die.

SSSSS

Asuka let loose a stream of German curses as the plug began to heat again, though less so than before, partially shielded by Rei and that shuttle shield, which carved a small hole in the heat beam. She had to cool the barrel, cycle out the cartridge of fuses, get it on target, wait for the telemetry, and fire again, all before the beam knockred Rei out of the way, killed her, and liquefied the entire cannon and transformer array, right before the Angel killed everyone on Earth.

No pressure.

She waited for the barrel to cool, that was the hard part. Rei was going down. Unit-00 couldn't hold up to the pressure, and the shield was beginning to slope. Once it reached a certain angle, it would be effectively useless, Rei would fry, and they would all die. The question was whether that would happen before she fired and killed the damn thing, or if it would get them first. Asuka was getting hotter. She felt a little woozy. That might be a problem.

She blinked in surprise, even as she started cycling the fuses loose. The shield moved, just a bit, angled back into place a tiny fraction. She couldn't help it. She zoomed her view in on it. Rei was still pushing, but the Eva was trembling, faltering, but she was no longer alone. It was _him_. The man in the blue costume, the Superman, the word dully rolled to the front of her brain, was pushing against the shield too, his whole back and arms braced against it, his face a grimacing mask of concentration. He pushed and pushed and the shield shifted, sliding back up. The bolt went home. The tracking system appeared in her HUD.

All green. Fire.

She did.

She pulled the trigger and the gun didn't kick so much as bowl her backwards ass over teakettle, but she knew, damn it she _knew_ she'd done it this time, the beam was already there and they'd corrected for it. The beam lanced, leaving a purple streak like the kind that forms in your eye when you stare too long at the sun, a twin to the one that was just fading from the first shot, and she watched over the Eva's chest as the burst struck home, tore through the Angel, and roared out the back of it with a great gout of flame and what looked quite like blood. The whole thing teetered ponderously and then fell, just fell, exploding into a vast spray of LCL when it hit the ground.

She wanted to relax, but something was nagging her. Oh, right, Ayanami. She should help.

Asuka willed the Eva to rise and it did, clumsily, the still damaged joints tugging at her like a three week old twisted ankle, and she bade it crawl on hands and knees over to Unit-00, where the Entry plug had already been ejected. The big blue guy was already there, and had the plug open. He was talking to Ayanami, nodding, so she must be okay. Asuka decided it would be a good idea to fall over, but she didn't have much choice in the matter. She didn't even really feel it when the Eva hit the ground. Her synch must have been failing. Oh well.

She had a funny dream. She dreamed that Shinji was there, and he was in the plug with her and carrying her and he was really strong but also really gentle, carrying her like a newlywed. She heard his voice begging for someone, anyone to help her, and then she went into a really deep sleep, and was glad of it.

SSSSS

"Relax, big guy," Misato said with a grin, slapping Shinji on the shoulder. Asuka was still out, lying in the hospital bed, sleeping peacefully with a soft smile on her flushed face. Misato gazed at her too, in quiet admiration, and then studied Shinji with a look that was a cypher to him, though he knew part of it was a smirk. He uncrossed his arms and slipped his hands in his pockets and sighed. He actually felt a little tired, which was new. He'd have to sew his damn cape up, too.

"She'll be fine," Misato said to him again. "She's just exhausted, on top of surprisingly mild heat exhaustion from the first time. I'll let you know when she wakes up."

He nodded. "Rei's awake, if you want to see her. Oh, and go get me a beer."

He shot her a wry look.

"Okay, coffee. Seriously. You're my assistant. I need something with some kind of mind altering substance and I need it _now._"

Shinji nodded and then went on his way, stopping briefly in Rei's room. The girl seemed quite confused when he walked in, and stared at him for a bit. He scratched his head nervously. "Umm, are you okay?" he said finally, realizing that he was going to have to start the conversation.

"I am well."

"Oh," he said, "great! Uh, exciting night, huh?"

"There was a great deal of danger."

"Oh," he said. "Well, uh, I guess I'll be going."

As he turned, she said, very softly, "Why did you bring flowers to me?"

He stopped. "You looked a little sad. I wanted to cheer you up."

She said nothing for a moment that stretched into a minute. He shrugged, offered a goodbye, and went on. The break room was crowded with techs, all of whom were joyfully celebrating, passing around cakes and snacks from the vending machines. Shinji bought a canned coffee and stopped as Makoto Hyuga put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Shinji," he said. "You should hang out for a while. You're kind of like an honorary bridge tech now."

He shrugged. "I have to get this back to Misato. I'm on the clock, I guess."

"You don't get paid," Maya said, a little confused.

Aoba sighed and rolled his eyes. "Rub it in, Ibuki."

"Go on then," Hyuga said brightly, "We'll see you later."

He found Misato in the hall outside the Commander's office, and handed her the can of coffee. She took it with a smile that faded as she followed Doctor Akagi, who gave Shinji an approving nod, and Kaji, who totally ignored him, as they walked into the Commander's office. As he walked away, he changed a glance back, and focused something in his eyes, like a muscle he half knew was there, and the world around him faded, became eerie and translucent. Except for the Commander's office, which was coated on every inside wall with something too dense for his vision to pierce.

Something about that chilled him to the bone as he pushed the button in the elevator.

SSSSS

Gendo Ikari sat back, clearly pleased, although it took a man with Kozo Fuyutsuki's knowledge of his moods to actually tell. That he wasn't shielding his face was proof enough. After the three visitors- the head of Project E, the Operations Director, and the idiot spy left, Ikari pushed the button for the door to close and seal, no doubt to give them a shock as much as to keep the man Kaji from listening in on them. He leaned forward and twined his fingers after pressing a button under the desk. A small screen rose from a cleverly hidden panel in the top of the desk and flicked on, showing a view of Unit-01 in its cage. The machine was badly damaged, the armor in profound need of repair. It was good that the schedule did not suggest another attack for weeks, most likely as Unit-02 arrived.

Both men watched intently as Shinji Ikari walked out in front of the Eva and stared up at it for some time, then whispered something. Kozo didn't need to be a lip reader to tell he was saying "thank you." Ikari tensed.

"You don't think he-"

"No," Ikari said, staring intently at the screen.

Shinji walked away from the Eva, going on his way, and apparently didn't notice that the machine's head slightly, _ever_ so slightly, turned to look after him.

SSSSS

Misato leaned back against the counter in the executive mess and stretched. The place was cramped, and wouldn't have been out of place in any office building. The main recreational facilities were much slicker and much more scif-fi, purposely so, to impress the teeming masses of technicians and other personnel of NERV's power and influence. It was all part of the façade of Tokyo-3, the Last Fortress of Mankind. People had to believe in the whole thing. It was important, to the survival of the species.

She desperately wanted sleep but Ritsuko insisted they meet here before everyone knocked off for the night, her and Kaji and, for some reason, Maya. The other three sat around the small table, Ritsuko prim and proper, Kaji as sloppy and casual as usual, and Maya… like Maya. Kaji eyed her and she wilted under his gaze, darting furtive glances at Ritsuko. Misato wasn't one to judge. She'd had her little experiments.

"We have a problem," Ritsuko said, sipping her tepid coffee. "They're evolving."

"Well duh," Misato said, very, very tired of the Oh Captain My Captain part of her personality, and ready to let it rest for a while. Maya looked at her askance.

"Think about it. The first one had a range of capabilities- ranged and up close, and was fairly tough." She sipped her coffee again. "The second one focused entirely on melee and defense, which make sense, since the one before it did the most damage up close."

"Go on," Kaji said, sticking an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

"That one failed, so the next one comes along, and it focuses itself on pure offense. It's a glass cannon, basically. Slow and fragile, but so powerful we can't get close to it."

"Right," Misato said, "but we can adapt faster than they can. Each one is pretty much stuck the way it is."

"So far," Ritsuko said. "We're not sure. There's an X-Factor at work here, too."

"Which is?"

"Superman?" Maya piped up helpfully. Ritsuko gave her an amused look.

"Right. That beam almost killed the Eva, but from the gun camera footage from Unit-01, it barely singed him."

"Okay," Misato said. "So?"

"So if he can shrug off what will kill an Eva in forty-three seconds, what happens when the Angels start adapting to _him?_"

For that, no one had an answer.

SSSSS

Asuka crept into the apartment, glad that the Commander had assigned her security detail to take her home rather than wake Misato, who had taken off and was snoring loudly in her bedroom. For once, Asuka thought, she deserved it. It was almost sundown- she'd slept all night and all day, and was still tired. The Section 2 man dared not cross the threshold into the Katsuragi apartment, it seemed, no doubt afraid some curry-spawned Balrog would appear to scourge them with a whip of ramen noodles. She chuckled to herself at her cleverness as she headed for the shower. She saw a box, wrapped up like a present, sitting on the kitchen table, but decided to shower first. She had her priorities.

She decided, this day of all days, to take a cold shower, and skip the usual lengthy process of caring for her hair and skin, especially since she felt like she'd spent a week out in the sun. Instead she just stood under the cool water, let it flatten her hair against her back, and then just sat on the towel for a while, letting herself air dry. It felt good to have goose pimples again. She decided that she hated heat, and when she left the bathroom she snuck past Misato and turned the thermostat as far down as it would go, and breathed a long sigh of relief when she heard the air conditioning clatter to life. Truly these were blessed times of glorious future technology.

Shinji was gone out somewhere, she saw, probably to hang out with his doofus friends. He left her dinner, though, and had the good sense to make it cold cuts. She wondered, vaguely, where he was getting all of this European style food, or for that matter how he could afford all of it. He must have been spending a lot of Misato's money on imported foodstuffs to keep her happy. She looked at the pile of homework, no doubt freshly delivered by Hikari, and decided to ignore it. She wasn't in the mood to grapple with the Kanji. Why couldn't these people write with regular letters, like normal people? Everything was written in goofy little pictures of houses.

She noticed the package on the table again and picked it up. It was a dark brown, coffee-colored box wrapped up in a purple ribbon. The colors stirred something in her, and then she remembered. There was a vase of flowers; too, she wasn't sure how she missed that. It was small, and made of fine cut crystal. The flowers were knapweed, sometimes called cornflowers- the national flower of Germany, it turns out. That brought a smirk to her face. She wondered who sent them. She'd check the tag after she opened the box.

When the lid came off, she remembered why the colors seemed so familiar. It was the packaging of a local shop, one she'd visited once a while. She'd always begged Kaji to buy her something there, but he never did, she had to shop there alone. It was a small assortment, which made sense; they were expensive. She picked up a truffle and popped it into her mouth and stifled a moan of joy. She hadn't eaten anything this good in months, especially not since she came to this place. These people had no idea how candy worked. Funny, though, how it could have gotten here. Someone must have shipped them. Misato, maybe? Had she ever mentioned that candy shop to her? She glanced at the tag on the flowers. It was in German, too. She recognized the street name; it was half a block away from the chocolatier. There was another note, written in careful, artful block letters, in German.

_A little taste of home. I asked Kaji where to shop. _

_-Shinji. _

She hoped he didn't spend too much on shipping. Shipping flowers must have been a pain, especially to get them so fresh. They looked like they'd been cut that morning.


	6. Shinji's Day Off

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. -Benjamin Franklin<p>

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 6- Shinji's Day Off

Shinji Ikari awoke on his day off, which was, unusually, an actual day off since Misato would be away from NERV and didn't a gopher today, at the same time he always did, which made sense since he wasn't sure if he actually needed to sleep or if only wanted to because it felt refreshing. He'd certainly made due with not much this week, when he was fried by a gigantic particle beam, held up a heat shield against that same a particle beam, hung around NERV until Misato wandered home (she didn't remember that he drove her, which was good since he didn't have a license) then while Asuka was still recovering from her ordeal polished up on his German, flew from Japan to Germany at hypersonic speed, left her gifts on the table, fixed his costume, went to school, and finally came home eighteen hours later after stopping two bank robberies and helping a mother find her lost child in the shopping district, napped for four hours, and then went to school with Asuka when she was ready to go back, which was yesterday. The gifts he'd bought and the acclaim she found at school seemed to lift her spirits, which was good. All in all, he felt entirely justified in rolling over and sleeping for another hour, which he did, bringing the total to ten.

Speaking of particle beams, when he awoke, Asuka was in the kitchen, having slept in herself. She was still in her pajamas, a loose t-shirt and short shorts she word to bed, and was sitting in a chair, one leg propped underneath her, brushing out her hair. The A-10 clips were on the table. They'd given her new ones after the fight with the last Angel. In the morning sun her hair shone like beaten copper, and he swore he could almost see his reflection in it. He smiled a little stupidly when the faint scent of them told him that she'd put the flowers in her room, rather than leaving them here or putting them out in the living room.

"Breakfast," she snapped, "Hungry."

Sighing, he set about trying a new recipe he'd learned of, something called French Toast. He hoped that it wouldn't offender her, being German and all, but he was fairly sure it was just a name. She eyed him with some interest as he beat the eggs, mixed in the cream and fluffed them. The recipe called for French bread, a hard, crusty stuff that was different from what he was used to. He'd bought French bread, although it was in Germany of course, so if anything it should be familiar to her. Today instead of preparing differing breakfasts for all three, he decided to just make enough or everyone, and so quickly cut the bread into a sufficient number of slices with a deft, easy hand. The egg soaked bread was beginning to cook on his skillet when Misato walked out of her bedroom in a crisply pressed military uniform.

Shinji and Asuka both stared openly, more shocked than if Pen Pen had wandered out of his refrigerator and starting belting out Top 40 hits. Misato gave them both a wry look and popped open a can of cold coffee, gazing longingly for a moment at her supply of beer, and sat down at the table to await her meal. Asuka finished with her hair, looped it into a loose ponytail behind her, and busied herself silently reading the newspaper, drumming her fingers on the page.

"Are they ever going to get tired of this?" she said no one in particular, looking at a badly framed picture of Shinji ripping the door off a burning car.

Shinji glanced over her shoulder, skimming the article. Sightings of Superman all over Europe and Russia.

Uh oh.

Asuka read but said nothing, instead resting her chin on her fist until he placed a plate in front of her and she immediately perked up, eyes brightening. She picked up her fork hungrily as he placed a bottle of maple syrup, also covered in German writing, and powdered sugar on the table. Misato took her plate, eyed it warily, and took a bite after Asuka slathered her portion in butter and powdered sugar. She glanced at the bottle of maple syrup.

"What's that?"

"Maple syrup," Asuka said. "It's sweet."

Misato shrugged and let a small portion of the syrup ooze onto her plate, dipped a small bit of toast into it, and actually moaned when she tasted it.

"This is the best thing _ever._ Where did you get all this German stuff, anyway?"

"Oh," Shinji smirked, "Uh, air mail?"

Misato shrugged. "I hope you didn't blow your whole allowance on it."

"Air mail," Asuka said, tapping her fork on her plate. Her brows furrowed ever so slightly. Shinji cringed.

Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

Before she could say anything, the doorbell rang. Shinji sprang to his feet, which was fortunate since neither of his companions moved to do the same, and went to answer it. Outside the door he found Toji and Kensuke.

"Hey man," Toji said, "want to hang?"

"Hey, what's that smell?" Kensuke said, sticking his head into the apartment under Toji's shoulder.

"Come in, boys," Misato called.

Asuka groaned.

"Good morning, Misato," Toji said as he entered the kitchen, "Good morning, Great Satan."

Asuka chewed her French Toast a bit more forcefully than before.

"Hey, what's that weird toast you're eating?"

Kensuke paid no attention to the toast, instead staring quiet openly at Misato. Shinji cursed himself for not realizing the effect seeing his buxom guardian in a military uniform would have on him, and shoved a plate of food at him as a distraction. Kensuke's trance broke when he smelled it. He, too, grinned when he took a bite, and asked to sample the syrup.

The meal was surprisingly peaceful.

_I guess I really can do anything,_ Shinji thought to himself, pleased.

SSSSS

Misato seated herself beside Ritsuko, who in her own dress uniform, the far less martial black high collared coat and skirt of Project E, looked anything but relaxed as she hunched over the table with her arms crossed, her pose reminding Misato of a petulant child. She smirked at her old friend and took a sip of water from one of the complimentary bottles that had been put out on the tables and leaned back in her chair. With a cough, Shiro Tokita, the head of development for the Jet Alone project, took center stage at the front of the auditorium, looking out over a sea of round tables in white linen cloths ringed by people in various uniforms of varying pomposity. His affectation of a labcoat prompted a snicker from Misato's companion.

"This is a waste of time," Ritsuko muttered to herself.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Tokita squeaked into the microphone, "Today marks a milestone in the development of military hardware. It is my great pleasure to present to you the future of humanoid combat drone technology, Jet Alone!"

"Who came up with that name?" Misato whispered. Ritsuko ignored her, and raised her hand. Misato groaned.

"Yes, Doctor Akagi? The head of Project E, as I recall?"

"Yes," Ritsuko called back from her seat. "You do realize that this lumbering joke of yours has absolutely no chance of stopping an Angel?"

"Because of this so-called AT Field, is that right?" the skinny little man smirked.

"How…"

"We'll see, Doctor, we'll see. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I may direct your attention to the proving grounds at left."

Dozens of head swiveled in unison to the vast window that made up the entire wall of the auditorium. In the distance there was a huge hangar in the baking endless-summer sun, the corrugated door gleaming. With a rumble the door slid up slowly, revealing the machine inside. Much larger than an Evangelion, it was more squat, probably for balance, with long, segmented arms. It had no head, as such, looking out on the world through a single viewport mounted at the apex of its chest.

"Unlike the Evangelions, which depend on external power and have a limited operating capacity from an internal reserve, Jet Alone is equipped with a clean, efficient microscale nuclear reactor that provides up to six weeks of full power operating capacity without fueling or maintenance. A fleet of fully equipped Jet Alones could keep watch at all times, eliminated the destructive and wasteful lead time required for Evangelion launch."

Tokita gestured, and there was a low rumbling sound as five massive carbon rods slid free of the machine's body, rising up behind its back like the frill of some lizard. Ritsuko huffed and palmed her face, and Misato shared the sentiment; what idiot would mount vital operational components where they would be so vulnerable to being snapped off?

"Now, Jet Alone will tour a short circuit for us, demonstrating its AI. Unlike the Evangelions, Jet Alone requires no pilot, and is operated remotely from these terminals," he gestured grandly to the scientists behind him.

The robot began to walk, each step sending a reverberating thump through the hall, making the water in the bottles dance. It took one step after another, plodding along, swinging its big arms for balance, Tokita grinning. Then, it crossed the line marking the little course they'd programmed it to walk and continued on, towards the auditorium itself.

"I…" Tokita said, "why isn't it… Shut it down!"

SSSSS

Shinji sighed as he followed Toji and Kensuke into the arcade, Asuka having rebuffed the offer to join them; she'd made plans with Hikari, she told him, and would be home later. After she left, Shinji locked up and followed the two boys as they excitedly made their way downtown, a bounce in their steps. He languidly kept pace, bringing up the rear.

"I don't see why you're down," Toji announced to the air. "The devil would just ruin our fun."

Shinji didn't reply, instead following them to the first machine, a fighting game. Toji handily beat Kensuke, who accused him of being 'cheap,' and the victorious Toji demanded Shinji play, and so he stepped up to the game, on his own coin. He rested his hands on the controls and waited for the game to start. He eyed Toji warily as they chose their characters- Shinji had never played before, so he chose a big, burly looking fighter while Toji favored a schoolgirl in a ridiculous uniform for some reason. Shinji was a little surprised at how skilled he was, winning the first round easily. Toji hopped up and down in triumph, and a little smirk crawled across Shinji's face.

He had the controls down, now. Once he knew how they reacted to his button presses, it was easy. Toji was skilled, but Shinji was fast, beating his every movement by simply reacting too quickly. The match was over well before the time ran out, and after the second "You Win! Perfect!" Shinji shrugged and left to Kensuke, and started as he caught a glimpse of red hair beyond a few of the other machines. A quick glance through them revealed Asuka and Hikari dancing in front of a machine. He thought about it for a moment, made a few steps towards them, and then stopped, something in the distance, at the very edge of his hearing, catching his attention. He concentrated, bringing the distant sounds into focus through the din of joyful children and heartbeats and the buzzing wings of insects.

"So much for my day off," he sighed.

SSSSS

"What?" Misato demanded. "But-"

"This is not our concern," the Commander replied cooly through the phone, "I will not risk exposing an Evangelion to radiation. The matter is closed."

The line went dead as the Commander hung up without ceremony. Misato angrily shoved her phone back in her pocket and took her friend by the arm.

"Come on, we have to get out of here."

Ritsuko nodded and went with her, and they both stopped when they heard it, a rush of air that thrummed against the glass as something past them by. Not quite knowing why, Misato turned and gazed out at the machine, now only a few hundred meters from colliding with the building in which she now stood, waves of heat rising from its back as it threatened to melt down and explode. A hush fell over the crowd as they all watched in unison as the tiny blue-and-red shape rocketed up to the Jet Alone and punched it in the face plate, sending it reeling back a step.

Whirring, the machine took clumsy swings, as if batting at an insect, easily dodged. It began to chase after its attacker, changing course as he extended his buzzing circles a bit, drawing it away from the building. Misato ran over the command consoles, Ritsuko in tow.

"Can you shut it down?" she demanded.

"We're trying to get the authorization code for the emergency shutdown," Tokita replied hastily, running from one console to another.

"What? Why do you need authorization for that!"

"It's classified!"

Ritsuko palmed her face again.

An impact rippled through the floor and she turned and saw that now that the machine was facing away from them, Superman was taking the offensive, knocking it back a few feet with every step. Tokita went pale, dropping the phone in his hand.

"We have to stop him. If he ruptures the core…"

Misato's eyes widened. "Do you have a public address system?"

"Yes, but-"

"Shut up and give it to me!"

The man looked at her blankly for a second, and when another boom made the tables bounce, turned and handed Misato a microphone, then went to flip the switches to power it up. She flicked the switch.

"Superman! Listen to me! The reactor is going to melt down! You have to get the control rods back into the reactor! In its back!"

She looked and saw him react, having clearly heard her. He flitted behind the machine, which scrabbled to turn and nearly fell as it did, landing on one clawed hand before pivoting around, but he was fast. With both fists he slammed the first rod back down into the body of the machine and then moved on to the second, which fell with equal ease. By the third he had to push, and when he reached the fifth, it was visibly taking an effort to overcome the pressure and force the rod home. He was almost there when the other four slowly began to work their way out again.

"Are you kidding me?" Misato demanded, grabbing Tokita by the collar of his stupid labcoat.

"It's a safety feature!"

Superman saw the first rod going back up, released the one he held and went back to the first, shoving it all the way home. He stared at it intensely for a moment, prompting Misato to wonder what the hell he was doing, and then she blinked away as beams of intense light shot out from his eyes, drawing smoke where they touched the rod. With the first one done he moved onto the second and the third, the machine clawing more feebly at him as he sealed each one until at last with a titanic effort, pushing so hard it forced the machine to its knees, the last rod went home and he sealed it in place. Jet Alone waved its silly arms a bit, then teetered over to the side, Superman lifting off the back just in time. He gave a wave and sped off, low along the treeline, and disappeared as a cheer erupted all around Misato. She found herself joining in.

SSSSS

Shinji skidded to a stop a few blocks from the acarde, hurriedly changed behind a dumpster, and sprinted back- not so fast that anyone would take notice if they saw him- and pretended to be winded when he made his way back into the arcade. Kensuke fell in beside him, a stuffed toy under his arm. Shinji looked at it askance.

"Claw machine," he said, offering no further explanation. "Wanna try it?"

"No," he said absently, adjusting his glasses, "I've had enough of claw machines for one day."

"Did she enjoy the French Toast?" Kaji whispered in his ear.

He nearly jumped, rounding on the man.

"How did you do that? You snuck up on me. _Me._"

"I learned from the best," Kaji noted dryly, "I've got to run, but we need another chat when you're able."

SSSSS

Having won again, Asuka grew bored of the silly dancing game, though Hikari looked crestfallen at the prospect of no longer playing. They looked around the arcade, glad of the cool air blowing in from huge fans set all about the low concrete ceiling. She glanced at the basketball game and considered it for a moment, then changed her mind as she saw Toji and Kensuke appear, the latter carrying a pink stuffed bear in a frizzy tu-tu.

She didn't see that coming.

"Hey, look," Hikari said, tapping her shoulder. "Shinji's with them."

He was, standing there watching the other two play with his hands thrust in his pockets, slouching as Toji easily bested Kensuke at putting miniature basketballs into a hoop. There was always something odd in his posture, something like timidity but tinged with a weird sort of confidence, as if nothing could touch him. She caught herself staring at him, shook her head, and went on.

"You should talk to him," Hikari insisted, glancing at Toji.

Asuka snorted. "Why?"

"He _likes_ you."

"How do you know that?"

"You said he gave you flowers and made breakfast."

"He gave Ayanami flowers, and he always makes breakfast."

Hikari rolled her eyes. "He gave you chocolates, too. From Germany. That must have cost him a lot of money, and he made the breakfast that _you_ like."

"I guess," Asuka said. "Let's get out of here. I need some air."

Hikari shrugged, and trotted after her.


	7. Fish Story

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

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><p>"The whales, you see, eat up the little fish. " -Thomas Churchyard<p>

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><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 7- Fish Story

Shinji never thought he would find flying boring. Soaring up away from the baking hot earth and streaking free among the clouds was the greatest relief he'd been granted, the chance to just get away from everything, even for a few minutes, and feel cool air blasting over his face and the joyous sensation of speed. Bending steel in his bare hands and seeing through walls had its perks, but flying was what made him glad to be alive. Unless by "flying" one meant "riding in a helicopter with Misato, Asuka, Hikari, Toji and Kensuke" which was less flying and more like Chinese water torture.

Shinji felt a rush of relief when Kensuke rushed to the nearest window, camera in hand, ginning ear to hear. He could he heard exclaiming in joy even over the din of the helicopter's engines as he named the ships of the Pacific Fleet, spreading out beneath him.

"There in the center, that's the _Harry S Truman," _ pointed, "over there are the _Illinois, Kentucky, and North Carolina,_ and there's the _Kirov._ She's Russian!"

Shinji glanced out at the ships. Other than the big flat one, they all looked the same to him, save for the number of guns that bristled across their backs. The one that stood out was the big, wide, ungainly cargo ship with the huge humanoid form of an Evangelion lashed to her deck under an absolutely enormous canvas tarp. Kensuke continued rattling off the names of the various ships. Shinji wondered how he knew every single one of them by heart, when the only difference he saw in them was size and shape. He could even tell apart the ones that were identical, so far as Shinji could see without looking too closely.

Asuka was staring hungrily at the ship carrying Unit-02, suddenly tuning out Hikari, who looked as if she was about to throw up, and was indeed clutching a tiny paper bag. As the chopper turned and began to bank towards the carrier, she pulled it to her face and began to breathe in and out of it. Toji seemed torn between letting the G-Forces push him into Misato and trying to steady Hikari. Shinji was almost amused by this, but was tired of the thumping of the rotor blades over his head. The world leaned hard to the side and straightened, and there was a feeling of lightness to which he was entirely accustomed as the chopper touched down on the deck of the carrier Kensuke had identified as the _Truman._

Shinji waited patiently as the pilot spooled down the engines and the machine came to rest. After an uncomfortable period of time, the ramp at the rear of the craft descended and the occupants began unbuckling themselves from their tiny, uncomfortable seats. Misato arched her back and stretched, prompting Toji and Kensuke to stare at her, earning a scowl from Hikari directed at the latter. Asuka bounced to her feet and strode triumphantly out onto the deck, the sea wind flaring her yellow skirts around her legs. A line of officers in white stood on the deck to greet the landing party. The person standing at the end of the row caught Shinji's attention immediately.

She stood out from the others like a store thumb, a tall, brown-haired girl in twintails, dressed in a loose white shirt and a tartan skirt over stockings and mary-janes, a manic green on her face beneath heavy-framed pink eyeglasses. She locked eyes on Asuka immediately and bounced towards Asuka, her grin widening even further. Taller than Asuka by an inch, she, too , wore A-10 clips in her hair, although hers were part of a hairband, she was proportioned like a younger Misato, to say the least. She grabbed Asuka and pulled her into a bear hug, squealing with delight. Toji elbowed Shinji.

"_Damn_," he whispered, "are those d-cups?"

Shinji could probably have heard Asuka's teeth grinding _without_ super-hearing.

Kensuke leaned over to Shinji, his camera aimed at the two young women. "I was born to witness this," he breathed.

SSSSS

Maya Ibuki was bored.

Working as a technician on the bridge or assisting Doctor Akagi with Project E was exciting to be sure, but the bridge was an empty, dull place when there were no Angels attacking and Doctor Akagi was out of the city, attending some conference or other with the Commander. That left her, Hyuga and Aoba sitting at their stations waiting for something to happen. Rei was in the base somewhere, technically on call in case of an Angel attack, doing who knew what. Asuka had flown out to meet Unit-02 and the new pilot, along with Captain Katsuragi and some of the kids from the school that Asuka and Shinji knew.

Maya looked around every five minutes, unable to concentrate on her romance novel for fear that someone would walk in, see her goofing off, and yell at her for wasting time. It did not occur to her that her comrades at keyboards were doing the exact same thing, only much more blatantly, with Hyuga next to her reading some silly manga about (of all things) giant robots, while Aoba had a pair of earbuds in his ears and an imaginary guitar in his hands. Something about all of this disturbed Maya on some level, as if this whole place was a front for a huge conspiracy and their jobs were part of the illusion while old men conspired over ancient scrolls somewhere and planned it all out in advance.

Nah.

"Hey, what's the new pilots name?" Hyuga said, without looking up.

"Uhhh," Maya said, tapping a few keys on her keyboard. "Mari Illustrious Makinami."

"What the hell kind of name is that?" Aoba said, pausing his imaginary riff for a moment.

Hyuga shrugged. "You think that's bad, Asuka's mother's middle name was apparently _Zeppelin._"

"Dude," Aoba said, staring him straight in the eye. "Never, ever bring that up. Trust me."

"Didn't she work at the Berlin branch?" Maya said helpfully. "I remember Doctor Akagi mentioning her a few times."

"What happened to her, anyway? It's kind of weird, sending her over here alone, and all."

"Dude," Aoba said more stridently, "she's _dead._ Just let it drop."

Hyuga sank in his chair a bit. "Sorry. Hey, what's that?"

"What?" Maya said, looking down at her terminal, "It's… oh _crap, _it's an Angel! Red alert!"

"It's a _blue _alert."

"Whatever!"

SSSSS

"This plugsuit is way better than my old one," Mari announced after her suit compressed, "finally they gave me one with enough room in the chest!"

Asuka stared daggers at her as she flicked the control on her own suit and it cinched up around her. Her current objective was to get Unit-02 up and operational, then kill the Angel. Then she was going to dump 'Mari' in the Pacific. No one would know, they'd think it was an accident. The entry plug was, thankfully, already in place, and so Asuka started climbing up Unit-02's back towards it.

"Hey, wait!" Mari called, scrabbling up behind her. Asuka huffed as she realized that leaving the new pilot behind wasn't much of an option. She caught up with surprising ease, and put a pink glove on Asuka's shoulder.

"Here, let me get in first. I'm bigger, so you should sit on my lap."

Asuka growled.

SSSSS

Shinji found himself in an awkward position. He was standing on the bridge of the U.S.S. _Harry S Truman_, along with dozens of other people, several of whom were screaming at each other, most prominently Misato and the bearded Admiral in charge of the fleet, who disagreed with the concept of activating a combat machine weighing hundreds of tons and having it jump onto the deck of his trillion-dollar aircraft carrier, which was apparently quite sensitive to such things as giant robots stepping on it. None of this seemed to concern the Angel, which approached in a huge wave that cut one of the outlying support ships in two.

Shinji slipped off the bridge, made sure there was no one in sight, and breathed a sigh of relief that he'd thought to just wear his suit under his clothes today. Stuffing his school uniform under some metal stairs, he jumped off the deck and dipped low, heading back out over the ocean. He rolled and banked around the front of the carrier, coming up just ahead of it. Some of the men on the deck glimpsed him and pointed, he was too busy putting on speed, leaving a trail of water beneath him, disturbed by wake of turbulence he was creating. Unit-02 sailed overhead in all its lanky, crimson glory, leaving behind it the trailing tarp, cast off like a bullfighter's cape. He felt as much as heard the impact as the Evangelion hit the deck of the carrier and put on more speed, feeling the air press against him, build and build and build until at last it warped and thundered out behind him in a sonic boom and all the sound around him went dead, replaced with the rush of blood in his own ears. He slowed as he came to the sinking cruiser.

The damage wasn't as bad as he thought, but she was no longer seaworthy. The Angel had come up underneath it and torn a huge rent in the hull. Water flooded in, steaming. He sucked in a deep breath and plunged under the surface, reached out, and took hold of the two halves of the tear. The metal warped and folded under his fingers, groaning in protest, and he pulled, hard, finally letting out a grunt that sent air bubbles flooding to the surface. When he had the two halves pulled together, or close enough, he focused on the place where the metal met and steam erupted, rising to the surface in hot streamers. When the opening was sealed, he took off again, pulling a great plume of water up behind him.

He surfaced just in time to finally spot the Angel itself. It was enormous as it breached like a whale, breaking the surface only to sink again, its massive tail flukes so huge they dwarfed the cargo ship that Unit-02 had taken off from. When it dove down again, the suction action of the water behind it wrenched the surrounding ships off course. He could see it diving down again, heavy tail working, building enough speed to launch its huge, blubbery body up towards the carrier. It seemed like it was all mouth, a huge maw reaching for Unit-02. Shinji pushed, pouring on the speed, but he was too slow. The thing almost pulled the carrier under as it mounted it, clamped down on Unit-02's legs, and pulled it under, umbilical trailing behind it.

He took another breath and dove, plunging under the water. He came to a stop, his cape floating behind him. The Angel was diving, dragging the Evangelion in its mouth. It frantically pounded at the Angel's flesh with a progressive knife, but the rents it opened seemed to have no effect on the creature as it went deep, pulling the umbilical cable out behind it. Shinji went down to follow, parting the ocean before him as he did the air rather than swimming. He could reach the cable, but thought better of it; if it snapped, there might be no getting Unit-02 back to the surface.

He had to find the core- that was the key, if he could disable thing, it would let them go and the ship could reel the Evangelion back using the cable. He just had to find it. He passed under the creature, outpacing it, but all he could see was a vast expanse of blubbery white flesh, and tiny beady eyes. Seeing no alternative, he went for the gap where the Eva was forcing its mouth open, passing by great recurved teeth bigger than he was. The inside of the thing was a mockery of biology, with a huge tongue and no real innards to speak of- save the core, embedded in overlapping petals of flesh. He landed on it and when he struck a blow the entire thing shuddered as the beast let out a wail of torment, and he saw a crack form in the gleaming crimson surface. He hit it again and again, and it yielded under his blows, fragmenting with each impact. Chunks of it floated up, past him towards the thing's mouth. Its grip slackened and Unit-02 came free, flailing wildly for purchase.

Finally the thing let out one last wail and lurched as it died around him. He raced for the mouth, cracking one of the teeth in two as he forced his way out, and almost went for the surface, until he realized that in its death throes the thing had flailed its mighty tail and snapped the umbilical clean in two, sending Asuka and Mari down to a watery grave, the Evangelion unable to propel itself through the water. What idiot decided to ship the thing by sea if it couldn't swim? He dove, as fast as he dared, an envelope of water pushing before him. He had to get them before they got too low, before the pressure overwhelmed them. The Eva reached for him and he grabbed its wrist in a bear hug and pushed, pushed upwards.

SSSSS

The bridge of the _Harry Truman_ would have been silent if not for commands shouted to the damage control crews hurriedly rushing about the deck putting out a fire started when Asuka landed. When the cable went slack, Misato and the children and half the command staff crowded around the terminals as all signals from the Evangelion went dead. The Admiral removed his hat and held it over his chest, and his subordinates did the same. Misato half collapsed on the console in front of her, leaning on her fists.

"Look!" Hikari cried out. "Look!"

Superman breached the water, straining to drag the Evangelion behind him, holding it by the wrist. As both of its arms broke the water the machine took hold of the edge of the ship and the world went wild, tilting hard to the side as the weight of the Evangelion settled upon it. The tiny blue blurr flew down behind it and pulled, taking hold of the roots of the cable still embedded in the back armor, helping to drag the machine aboard, and gave one last push as the Eva rolled onto the deck and landed in a sprawl, deactivating. Misato raced outside, followed by the children and the officers, in that order.

SSSSS

Asuka coughed out a great gout of LCL as she emerged from the plug, nearly falling down Unit-02's back. It took all her resolve to keep her breakfast from joining the oxygenated fluid on the back of her Evangelion. Mari followed a moment later, her own lungful of oxygenated fluid joining Asuka's own. Unlike Asuka, she rolled onto her back and began giggling like a maniac, looking up at the sunny blue sky.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Asuka demanded.

"We're alive! We're _alive!_" Mari giggled, inhaling and exhaling deep breaths.

She laid out on Unit-02's crimson back with her legs spread as if she were making a snow angel while Asuka unrolled the emergency ladder from the plug and threw it over the side, then finally sat down on the plug, flinching a bit when her plugsuit-clad butt slid across the slick composite armor, steadying herself on the ladder. She was content to rest for a moment, panting.

"Are you ladies alright?"

She turned. It was _him_, hovering there like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"We're fine," Asuka said, looking at him for a moment.

She could almost reach out and touch him. She couldn't place it, but something in his sad blue eyes was so _familiar,_ like some childhood memory at the back of her mind. The sea breeze kicked up and blew his cape out the side and the sun was on him, making his wet hair glow. There was something on the tip of her brain.

"I guess I should get going, then," he said.

"Wait," Asuka started, "I-"

"Oh _wow," _Mari cut in, "it's you! You're Superman!"

He turned to her in surprise, "I don't really-"

He didn't have time to finish before she sprinted across Unit-02's shoulder and jumped on him, actually jumped on him and grabbed him in a bear hug and gave him a big kiss on the cheek and he just hovered there the way he did and stared at her, blinking in surprise. He shook his head and he put his arms around her waist to keep her from falling.

"I saw you on TV! I didn't think you were real!"

"Well, I, uh, I guess… I should put you down."

At that he slid downwards, alighting on the deck, practically peeling her off. He came back up, bobbing absurdly in the air like a duck on water.

"Miss Soryu, do you want me to-"

"No," she said coldly, "I can handle it just fine on my own," as she descended the ladder.

SSSSSS

Misato watched as Mari _skipped_ away from Superman, practically dancing with excitement, almost clapping. She had a great broad grin on her face and Toji and Kensuke and some of the younger officers, at least the ones who weren't worried about hiding it, were carefully observing her bouncing up and down in her skin-tight plugsuit, Kensuke most of all with his damn camera. Misato rounded on the boy.

"Turn that off. Now."

"But-"

"Now."

Sheepishly, the boy retreated and snapped the viewscreen on his camcorder close. She turned back to Mari.

"How dare you!"

"What?"

Misato fumed at her, standing to her full height to make her look up to meet her eyes. "Under _my_ command, my subordinates do _not_ jump up and down and celebrate on the deck of the ship they just trashed, in front of the officers and crew that may have just lost friends in a battle. _This is not a game_."

"Actually ma'am, if I may," the admiral said, "while I fully support, and appreciate, what you are saying, I'm happy to report that there were no casualties today. Thanks to you, sir," he said, turning to Superman, who lighted on the deck just as Asuka got to the bottom of the ladder, shrugging him off when he offered a hand to steady her.

"It was my pleasure, sir," he said, blushing. "I'm just here to help."

"I'd like to shake your hand, son," the admiral said, offering his. Superman took it and accepted the gesture, then waved to the cheering crew before taking off into the sky the way he did. Misato still wasn't used to seeing that.

"Hey," Toji said, "where's Shinji?"

"Right here," Shinji replied, walking up behind him wearing a life vest, several more hanging from either hand, uninflated. "I, uh, thought we could use these."

SSSSS

Asuka stood at attention before the Commander and Sub Commander, Mari standing at her side in a markedly less formal pose, although she had the good sense not to grin now. Rei had joined them, her bandages finally removed, dressed in her school uniform. The Commander studied them over his gloves for a good minute, then spoke.

"Pilot Soryu," the Commander said, "In light of your performance, your years of experience and your expertise, you will remain the primary pilot for Unit-01."

The girl stiffened visibly at that, but said nothing.

"Pilot Makinami, as you have trained in Unit-02, you will remain assigned to it until further notice. Pilot Ayanami, you also will retain your current assignment. In all future engagements, Pilot Soryu is designated field commander under Captain Katsuragi. I am giving you all one day of leave before returning to school. You are dismissed."

After they left, the Commander sealed the door behind them and leaned back in thought.

"You've chosen, then," Kozo said, not looking at his old student.

"Yes, I believe the Soryu girl is the best candidate at present. We will move forward. Increase the observation, I require data. I cannot make bricks without clay."

"As you command, sir. If I may?"

"Yes, yes," Ikari waved a hand.

Kozo made his way out of the office and took a personal lift to his own, avoiding the elevator for now; he figured at least a fifty-fifty chance that the Soryu girl was ready to ambush him and demand assignment to "her" Evangelion. He managed to avoid that as he stealthily made his way to his office, slipped inside, and locked the door behind him, turning on his own small desk lamp rather than disturbing the fluorescent light above, lest someone know where he was. He was not so clever as Ikari with that, but it served.

Sure that he was alone, he opened the top door of his desk and reached up under it, pulling the faded photograph from where he kept it stuck with a bit of tape. Ikari had gone out of his way to destroy every photograph of his wife, and as far as Kozo knew, this was the only one in the entire world. It was not of her, exactly- it was a photo from the old GEHIRN lab, with Yui and Gendo in the center, Katsuragi –Misato's father- off to the side, and the tall willowy Kyoko Soryu standing behind Yui, one hand on the shorter woman's shoulder. It seemed to be Gendo's destiny to be surrounded by beauties.

He pulled out an old bottle of brandy he kept in his desk and poured a toast to absent friends and considered how those long gone women would think of what he was helping Ikari do their children.


	8. Training Day

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. -C.S. Lewis<p>

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><p>Chapter 8- Training Day<p>

Asuka was having a bad day.

First of all, when she arrived at school, Shinji in tow, she discovered that she was no longer the center of attention, and this inflamed her sensibilities deeply. Fortunately Hikari and most of her circle of groupies had the good sense to flock to her as she arrived, but the male portion of the student body seemed utterly obsessed with Miss Makinami, who was in turn gushing about how wonderful Superman was and that she, in fact, "totally kissed him" a fact corroborated by Kensuke's video of the event, a copy of which was available on YouTube. Asuka was starting to wonder why NERV hadn't had him assassinated or something. She almost felt a pang of sympathy for Ayanami, who was utterly ignored as she returned to the her seat, but this faded quickly as the pale, quiet girl seemed not to miss the attention and settled into a desk to stare off into space. Points of fact, the only boys not sniffing after Mari were Shinji (who Asuka presumed was too timid) and Toji, which truly confused her.

Secondly, the Angels couldn't wait two full damned days before attacking again, although this one was sadistic enough to wait until after she'd wasted a whole day at school with kindergarten material to launch its attack. This set in motion an most unfortunate chain of events that led inexorably to her current position, that is to say, standing in front of an old man in a skin tight outfit with her hair all sticky with bloody smelling goop standing next to Tits McMoron, being dressed down for her alleged failure.

This is how it happened.

Asuka closed her eyes as she felt the rush of the launch pressing her into the seat of Unit-01's plug at nearly two hundred miles an hour, bringing her to the surface on the leeward side of the city, towards the waterfront. The afternoon sun made the water look vaguely like LCL, and in the distance was the "aquatic humanoid" that was approaching the city, desperately in need of being blown up. Asuka felt very much like blowing something up, and at Misato's instruction, gathered up a pallet rifle and started making her way towards the target, stalking amongst the ruined buildings at the city's edge, where the old city had been submerged by Second Impact.

Somebody really should clean that stuff up.

Asuka took cover behind a building and watched the Angel approach. It was bipedal, and reminded her vaguely of the first one, in the footage she saw from Rei's battle with it. It was hunched, with long, gangly arms and heavy, armored shoulders. It plodded slowly along the waterfront, giving them plenty of time to intercept it before it reached the city.

That was when Mari, in Unit-02, vaulted over the line of ruins screaming "RAMMING SPEED!" and ran full-tilt at the Angel. Startled, Asuka opened up on the target, firing short, three round bursts at the core, hoping Mari was well-trained enough to neutralize the AT field. Hopefully, that was her plan.

Her plan turned out, in fact, to be "hit the Angel with my spear until it dies". She executed this plan by hitting it full on with a two-handed downward strike that split the thing from head to groin, both halves lolling over drunkenly. She yanked the spear free, took a step back, and leaned it on the Eva's shoulder.

"I got this!" she announced cheerfully.

Then the two halves started to move…

"…massive embarrassment," Fuyutsuki's voice snapped her back to reality. "and seriously calls into question your ability to pilot, Makinami, and your ability to lead a team, Pilot Soryu. I am beginning to think the Commander's faith in your abilities was misplaced."

Asuka looked around the office and said nothing. It reminded her of the offices of her professors back in Germany, who never heard what she had to say either, with his books and his papers and the ticking grandmother clock on the shelf behind him. It looked oddly out of place, some sort of fossil of a lost age. She clenched her fists at her side and waited for it.

"After the N2 mine was dropped, the Angel reverted to a defensive state, erecting an AT field we have no hope of penetrating. We have calculated it will resume its assault in seven days. I want you both to remember while you are training for the renewed offensive that the survival of the human race rests on your shoulders. Report to the Operations Director for the details of your new training."

He dismissed them with a wave of his hand, and then went back to his reports.

SSSSS

Shinji Ikari walked into Misato's apartment with a sigh, shrugging his backpack into his hands. Behind him, Toji and Kensuke followed, probably hoping for a chance at some patented Shinji Home Cooking or a glimpse of his roommates in states of undress or both, or they would have, had Hikari not accompanied them to visit Asuka, who had missed school along with Mari. All four of them stopped in the hallway when they heard shouting from the living room.

"It's not my fault you have canned hams stuffed down your shirt! You have no _balance!"_

"At least I _have_ something _to_ balance!"

"_Cut it out!_" Misato snapped as the small group made their way into the room.

Toji and Kensuke stared, unable to process what they were seeing. Misato, Asuka and Mari were standing in the middle of the room on mats marked with multicolored dots hooked up to a game console attached to Misato's television, both girls in leotards, their chests heaving as they fought to catch their breath. Mari stared at Asuka as if she would turn to stone, and Asuka was apparently trying as hard as she could to make Mari's head explode through sheer force of scowl. Misato stood next to them in a skin tight bodyglove of her own, a towel draped over her shoulders. Rei stood at the window, staring at the afternoon sky, equally sweaty but far more composed.

Kensuke turned to Shinji.

"One day, when all of this is done, I will don robes and walk the earth, spreading word of your legend far and wide. Men must know of the glory that is Shinji Ikari."

Shinji groaned.

"Uh," Hikari said sheepishly, "Hi?"

"Asuka," Misato sighed. "Take a break. Rei, it's your turn on the mat with Mari."

Misato's cool gaze fell on Kensuke. "You. If I see a video of this on Youtube, I will murder you."

"I understand," Kensuke nodded gravely.

While the guests took up positions on the couch to watch, Shinji set about preparing for dinner, glancing occasionally at the goings on in the living room. Hikari cheered Rei and Mari on as Asuka leaned panting against the back wall, staring more intently at them. The ballet music Misato chose soothed Shinji, and Rei moved easily in time to it, mimicking Mari's movements perfectly without even looking at her. The television flashed, 100%.

Asuka padded into the kitchen in her bare feet, a dark look on her face, and plopped down in the chair beside Shinji. He reached into the refrigerator and handed her a bottle of water and she took it wordlessly, uncapped it, and downed half of it in a single gulp.

"You shouldn't drink so fast. It'll give you a cramp," he said, chopping some leeks.

"Shut up," she replied amiably.

"I love you too," he muttered.

She eyed him angrily… that was angry, right? Was she blushing, or was she flushed from exercise? He didn't dare stare at her too closely, but he could see the heat waves rising off her skin. The sound of Hikari, Toji and Kensuke clapping distracted them both and Rei stepped off the mat, chest heaving but still pale as a ghost, and stalked silently into the kitchen.

"Asuka," Misato called, "You're up."

Huffing, Asuka swallowed the rest of her water and headed back into the living room, bumping Rei's arm as she passed. Rei either didn't notice or didn't care, and instead sat primly in the seat the German once occupied.

"Ikari," Said Rei.

"Hi Rei, how are you?"

"I am thirsty. May I have some water?"

He pulled open the fridge and produced a bottle of water for her, and she took it wordlessly. He studied her for a moment. "I meant, how do you feel?"

"Tired."

"Emotionally, Rei."

She blinked and looked at him. "I… I do not know."

Well, that was different.

"Rei," Misato called, "It's your turn with Asuka. Come on."

Mari did not join him in the kitchen, instead plopping on the couch next to Kensuke, who was perfectly comfortable with the girl throwing an arm around him and leaning back with an exaggerated yawn, a look of pure concentration on his face as tried desperately not to let his gaze fall on her chest. Or rather, to stare at her chest while appearing not to. Shinji shook his head and turned back to cooking, and then the doorbell rang. Now what?

As Misato ignored it, it fell to Shinji to open it, and so he wandered out of the kitchen to find Kaji at the door.

"Mister Kaji?"

"I'm here to see how the training is going," he said cheerfully, walking into the apartment as if he owned the place. "Well, Katsuragi?"

Misato eyed him warily. "Better than I expected," she said, bundling her towel over her chest under the pretext of wiping her face. "Okay," she said, "It's my turn. Asuka, stay there, you're with me."

"You're dancing too?" Shinji said.

"Thank you, God" Kensuke whispered.

"Shut up, Kensuke," Toji palmed his face.

"Yes," Misato said, tossing her towel aside. "A commanding officer should never ask her subordinates to do anything that she's not willing to do herself." She looked at Kaji "You. Get out."

Kaji sighed. "Mind if I borrow Shinji for a minute?"

"Borrow him outside. Don't let him corrupt you, Shinji."

Asuka glanced at… one of them, Shinji wasn't sure, as they left, Shinji following Kaji into the hall. The door slid close behind him and Shinji followed him down the stairs and out to Kaji's car. He opened the door for him.

"We're going for a ride."

Shinji shrugged and hopped in. Kaji followed suit, the car rumbled to life, and he pulled out into traffic with an assertiveness that actually made Shinji flinch, although not so much. As the man took to the road, Shinji found himself admiring him. Unlike Misato, his breakneck speed was accompanied by a calm sort of control, as if the car were an extension of his body. They slalomed around a corner and Kaji slowed to a fairly normal speed, lazily shifting the car into fifth gear before planting that all too familiar cigarette in his mouth.

Shinji glanced at his lungs. "You're lucky, you know. If you quit now, it'll be like you haven't smoked."

"I really don't," he smirked, "it's a spy thing. I need to be suave, you know?"

"How do you stay so calm about all this?"

"Hey now, you're the indestructible one."

Shinji sighed. "Okay. So what is it?"

"Right to the point, eh? I don't have much to tell you. Actually, I need you to do something for me."

"What would that be?" Shinji glanced out the window, watching the buildings slide by.

"Ask some questions for me. I've noticed a pattern and I want to confirm it."

"What questions?" Shinji said, getting a little annoyed now.

"I have to put this delicately… I've noticed that a lot of NERV personnel are single parents, and almost all of them are fathers. Among the pilots, Rei is a total mystery and Asuka and Mari's mothers are both deceased."

He pulled the car to a stop. "Listen to me. You must _never_ mention Asuka's mother, do you understand?"

Shinji nodded. "I won't."

"If she brings it up, fine, I trust you not to say something stupid. She doesn't want to talk about it, so let it lay. She died when Asuka was very young, and there's something strange about it."

"Strange?" Shinji glanced at him. "Like what?"

"Like, before she started working for GEHIRN, the predecessor to NERV, she didn't exist. Like she just walked out of thin air with a doctorate. She ended up marrying some scientist there. Asuka's father. Anyway, like I said, it's an open wound. Leave it alone."

"Yes, sir."

"Good boy. Speaking of Asuka, how is she?"

"Fine, I guess. She doesn't get along with Mari too well."

"No, they're too much alike. So, have you asked Asuka out yet?"

Shinji blinked. "What?"

"For somebody with about ten different kinds of vision, kid, you're pretty blind."

With that, Kaji drove back to the apartment, and let him off at the door. "I'll be back later this week to see how it goes."

Shinji quailed when he walked back into the apartment to find instant meals and snacks everywhere and everyone else eating and shrugged, his meal unfinished. He supposed he could let it go this time. At least Misato hadn't forced her spices on everyone else. The kitchen table was too small to accommodate the entire group, so everyone sort of fell into knots of familiar faces around the apartment. Toji and Kensuke sat with Hikari, who chatted amiably with Toji until Mari grabbed Kensuke and pulled him to the couch, where they sat together, animatedly discussing aircraft carriers and weapons systems. Wooshing sounds were made, and hands became aeroplanes. Toji glanced at them as Shinji drew near, a cup of soup in hand.

"The hottest girl in school…"

Hikari's eyes narrowed.

"…besides Hikari," Toji quickly corrected himself, "is talking to the King Geek of Nerd Mountain. About nerd stuff. This is blasphemy."

Hikari playfully punched him on the shoulder and Shinji noticed Rei alone on the veranda.

"Rei?" he said, sliding the door open. "May I come out?"

"That would be acceptable."

"You're not eating."

"Captain Katsuragi's food contains meat. I dislike eating meat."

"I'm sorry. I'll fix something for you."

She half turned and looked at him, her crimson eyes turned almost earthy in the darkness. "Why?"

He stopped. "Umm, because you're hungry?"

"Why are you concerned? I am able to procure food for myself."

"Well, because I want to be nice to you."

"I do not understand why."

He shrugged. "Because I should."

"Why?"

"Because people should help each other. Besides, we're friends, right?"

"I am your friend?"

"Yes, unless you don't want to be."

"It would be… acceptable. I will be your friend."

"Thank you, Rei. I'll make something for you."

Asuka and Misato sat in the kitchen, chatting about something, and immediately stopped when Shinji walked into the room and started heating up some half-made miso soup he had in a covered pot in the refrigerator.

"So," Asuka said in her sweetest tone, "when's the wedding?"

Shinji glanced at her. "It's not like that."

"Oh," Misato said playfully, looking more at Asuka than at him. "What's it like?"

"I just want to help her, that's all. She seems so _sad._ Like she's all alone. I don't even know where she lives. Did you know she's a vegetarian?"

"No," Misato said. "Come to think of it, I've never seen her quarters, either. I know Mari is on base, but Rei just sort of shows up. I assumed the Commander takes care of that. He's her guardian. I think."

"Aren't you the hero," Asuka snarked, "a regular knight in shining armor."

"I'm not trying to impress anybody," he said honestly. "I just… somebody told me once, if I see people in need and there's something I can do for them, I should."

Misato nodded. "Huh. I guess that makes sense."

"What are you, Spider-Man or something?" Asuka smirked.

"No," Shinji shrugged, pouring the now heated soup into a cup. "I'm just Shinji."

Misato chuckled. Asuka watched him, her expression opaque.

After dinner, Misato gathered everyone in the living room again. The room was crowded, but there was a sort of glow to it that teased Shinji, like the hint of a color at the edge of his vision that he couldn't quite see. His stomach tightened. He might be developing a new power; they came in slowly sometimes, rather than all at once, like the speed or the flight.

"Our brave pilots have worked hard all day," Misato announced. "For their entertainment, the _non_-pilots will now demonstrate their dancing skills." She grinned evilly, scanning the room. "Hmmm. I wonder who should go first."

Her eyes settled on Shinji. "Shinji…" she scanned the room again, her eyes resting on Rei for a moment, then snapping to Asuka. "…and Asuka."

Asuka took the mat and stretched, cracking her knuckles. Shinji fell in beside her on the other mat and steeled himself, reaching for his concentration. The music started and he let it flow into his mind, the way he did when he still played his cello. He let his eyes close a bit, but kept them open enough to watch Asuka's movements. As he focused, the world slowed, and he tuned out everything but her movements, the tensing of her smooth, athletic muscles beneath the leotard she wore, the precise, balanced motion of her limbs as they balanced her body. After what seemed too short a time, the machine pronounced them perfectly synchronized and they stood staring at one another as the entire room clapped. Mari stuffed two fingers in her mouth and whistled, making Asuka jump.

"Wow," Asuka said absently. "Too bad you're not an Eva pilot."

He shrugged. "I probably wouldn't be a very good one."

SSSSS

Shinji sat on the edge of a ruined building that leaned about halfway over in the water, like a bent reed, his cape blown out behind him by the explosion as the Seventh Angel perished in a spectacular flash of light. Unit-02 and Unit-01 nailed the landing perfectly, pirouetted, and then high-fived, in a motion that Mari had insisted on adding to the routine, since by her calculations they had about a half a second of power left after the routine actually finished. Both Evangelions hunched forward, entering standby mode. If he trained his ears just right, he could hear the communication's systems inside as the pilots talked with headquarters.

"Excellent job, both of you," Misato announced. "I order you both to participate a mandatory shopping trip as planned."

Shinji groaned.

He heard both pilots gasp.

"Pilot Soryu," his father's voice said, "Excellent work."


	9. Under Pressure

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause. -Theodore Roosevelt<p>

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 9- Under Pressure

"What do you mean, we can't go?" Asuka demanded.

Misato sighed sharply. "The pilots must remain in Tokyo-3 in case of an Angel attack."

Asuka huffed, crossing her arms at the table. Shinji studiously stayed out of the conversation, slipping out of the room before his housemates could involve him in their debate. He had four blessed days of relative freedom to enjoy, having already made sure to excuse himself from the class trip to Okinawa, the very same trip that Asuka was complaining about animatedly in the kitchen over dinner. Shinji too his own plate and went out to the veranda, electing to eat outside with the buzzing of cicadas.

He was a little surprised when Asuka joined him.

"Are you going on the trip?" she said, setting her food beside his.

He shook his head.

She seemed surprised. "Why not? All our friends are going."

He glanced at her in the fading evening light and searched for a reason. _I need to stay here in case an Angel attacks so I can pummel it with my bare hands_ was probably not a good thing to tell her, and _I don't see the point if you're not there_… was… wait, _was _that his reason? He blinked.

"Earth to Shinji."

"Oh," he said, "uh… I can't swim."

That was technically accurate. He never had to swim; by the time he was old enough to learn he could already fly and whatever process he used to actually do that –he still wasn't sure how it worked- worked just as well underwater on land, and the longest he'd held his breath before was an hour, after which he got bored. He wasn't sure if he actually needed to breathe at all.

"You can't swim?"

He shook his head.

"How can you not know how to swim?"

He shrugged. "I lived up in the mountains. I never really had much of a chance, I guess."

She studied him, leaning on her hand, and took a slow, thoughtful bite. "Want me to teach you?"

_YES._

"Uhh, maybe, umm, I guess…"

"Well, since I can't go on the stupid trip, you're invited to the pool in the recreation center tomorrow. Just don't get all pervy about me in my swimsuit."

She went back inside. Shinji glanced over his shoulder and watched her, just barely catching Misato's smirk.

SSSSS

One of the things that Rei noticed as she began to increase the frequency, duration, and complexity of her interactions with other people is that the more one remains quiet, the more one can observe and therefore infer about another's behavior. In situations where one is alone with another individual, this is a less effective strategy. When one is surrounded by very loud people, it is especially effective.

Rei applied this technique as she was swimming. She thoroughly enjoyed swimming and dedicated much time to it, despite the accusations of her peers that she spent all of her time outside of school and her piloting related duties hiding in her apartment. As such she was quite accomplished, and knifed through the water with the practiced ease of a veteran aquatic athlete. She completed another lap and righted herself, then began to tread water, watching the others.

Shinji had apparently upset Asuka somehow, in a way which related to his present activity, which consisted of sitting in a chaise lounge in his laptop with a stack of papers on a table to his right, a pencil clasped between his mouth. He was not dressed for swimming, instead wearing his customary school uniform. Asuka on the other hand was dressed for the activity, although she had not yet entered the pool. Unlike Rei's practical one-piece, Asuka wore a striped red and white bikini that was clearly chosen to emphasize her hips, legs and muscular torso. She bent over Shinji, causing him to blush profusely.

"What are you doing, anyway?" she demanded, nearly pushing her chest into Ikari's face.

"Science homework," he replied, leaning away from her.

"What is this? I can't read this crap."

"Thermal expansion," he said. "I can handle-"

"Here," she said, drawing closer to him as she typed on his laptop, "easy. It's a simple concept really, objects expand as they-"

At this point, she was interrupted as Mari ran into the gymnasium in a pink one piece swimsuit absent her customary glasses, screamed "_Cannonball_!" and leapt in the pool. When the resulting splash subsided, Rei poked her head out of the water, gasped for air, and surmised the results. Shinji had apparently moved to protect his laptop by swiveling around and shielding it with his body. This, in turn, caused him to strike Asuka in the legs and knock her over. Onto himself.

The results of this were quite fascinating. Asuka ended up straddling him, their faces nearly touching. She blushed profusely, as did he. They both stared at each other for a moment before Asuka rose in silence, looked at Mari, who was treading water and grinning, looked back to Shinji, and hauled him upright by his collar, shockingly strong for her size.

"Catch," she said, and shoved him into the pool.

_"WaitIcan't-"_ his cry ended with as splash.

He sank immediately and began flaililng, spraying Rei and Mari with water. Rei backstroked away from him, shaking the water out of her eyes. Mari's grin widened.

"I"ll save you!"

"_Like hell!" _Asuka cried and ran full-tilt to the edge and then leapt into the water, splashing Mari with a face full of water.

The latter tackled the former, and they rolled through the water, sending up a turbulent stream of white bubbles as Shinji flailed, apparently forgotten. Rei decided it would be best if he did not drown and paddled over to him.

"Shinji," she said.

"Rei, help!"

"Stand up."

He stared at her for a moment, and then stood. The water barely reached his chest.

"Oh."

Without a word, Rei paddled away, ascended the ladder, and walked away from the pool in her bare feet.

"Shinji's looking at Rei's butt!" Mari yelled. "Get him!"

"You _pervert!" _Asuka screamed.

SSSSS

Misato stopped at the end of the hall, peering around the corner at the gymnasium, which was empty except for Asuka and Shinji, who were in the pool. Asuka was standing up in the shallow end beside Shinji, who was in his soaked school uniform. She heard Rei and Mari come up behind her and motioned for them to stop. Mari made an exaggerated motion of looking around the corner and Misato pre-empted whatever she was about to do by clamping a hand over her mouth. Rei calmly watched over Misato's shoulder.

"I said _relax," _Asuka insisted, putting one hand on Shinji's head and one on his chest. "Just lie back."

"Are you sure about this?"

"It's four feet deep, you coward," she said, her voice absent its usual edge.

Trembling, Shinji did as she asked, and his feet slipped out from under him. He gasped as he bobbed into the water, almost sinking for a moment before Asuka pulled him back to the surface. She put a hand on his stomach and pushed, forcing him to bend a bit in the middle until he assumed a natural, easy dead man's float.

"See?" she smiled, "it's not so hard."

"Yephhithith" Mari strained against Misato's hand.

"Shut up," Misato whispered.

Apparently this lesson wasn't going to go beyond the vital skill of lying in the water and staring up at the teacher, and so Misato turned to Rei.

"Hold her."

Rei nodded and assumed control of Mari, a hand blocking her mouth, the other around her waist to restrain her. Misato walked out towards the pool and when neither party noticed her, coughed. Asuka looked at her in horror, her mouth working silently. Shinji studied Asuka for a moment, and then followed her gaze to Misato, starting for a moment and sinking. He sputtered and Asuka instinctively grabbed him and hauled him to his feet, and both of them stood there in the water up to their chests, blushing, Shinji hanging onto Asuka as if he would sink to the bottom of the ocean if they let go.

"I need all the pilots in the briefing room in ten minutes," Misato said, "we have a mission."

She turned and walked back out into the hall, where Rei still held Mari.

"Can you control yourself?"

She glanced at Asuka and Shinji, then shook her head no.

"Rei, bring her."

Rei pulled Mari alongside her and followed Misato away from the gymnasium.

SSSSS

Asuka groaned and slapped the side of her head, trying to force the damnable water out of her ears. She hadn't had time for a proper shower, either, so the pool chemicals were no doubt playing havoc with her hair even at that very moment. She sat around the table in the cramped briefing room, still feeling damp under her dress, flanked by Mari and Rei, who at last wore something besides that stupid school uniform, favoring a conservative blue sundress she'd bought on their shopping trip after the Seventh Angel. Mari wore a NERV bathrobe. They never gave Asuka a bathrobe.

"This is our chance to go on the offensive," Misato announced, bringing up a view of Mt. Asama on the screen before them. "Four hours ago, a seismic probe encountered an anomaly within the magma in the volcano, here."

The screen flashed and an egg-shaped dark spot in a purple field appeared. "This doesn't look like much, but the void you see in this readout is incredibly dense and heavy, and it's moving. After they contacted us, we confirmed that there is a living creature down there."

"So what's the plan?" Asuka said.

"Simple. We're going to lower an Evangelion into the magma flow and retrieve it using a laser cage."

"What?" Asuka said flatly. "That's stupid."

"The D-Type equipment will protect Unit-02 from the heat and pressure, and we have a special plugsuit prepared for the wearer," Misato went on, ignoring her protest. "Rei will remain here on standby while Unit-01 and Unit-02 are transported to the volcano. Once there, Unit-02 will extract the Angel for analysis."

Mari nodded. "I can do it."

"No," Misato said. "This isn't an ego trip. Asuka is the most experience pilot, the most experience with Unit-02, and has the highest sync ratio. Mari, you'll be in Unit-01 for this operation on restricted power mode unless an emergency arises."

Both girls nodded. Asuka fought hard to clamp down on her smirk. Mari, for her part, didn't seem especially disturbed.

SSSSS

Shinji handed Misato her iced coffee and stood at attention, or something like it, next to her in the mobile command center set up at the base of the mountain. Maya, Hyuga, and Aoba were there, along with the support crew outside, swarming all over the steaming volcano like something out of _The Lord of the Rings._ At the summit, the huge gantry and laser drill, like a giant microscope, had been erected, and Unit-02, encased in the massive, diving-suit like D-Type equipment, hung over the opening, like bait dangled before a fish.

"Ready, Asuka?" Misato called.

"Roger," she replied by radio.

Unit-01 tensed at the edge of the crater, peering into the abyss in anticipation. As a signal from Misato, Unit-02 began to lower as the laser drill fired, each blast like a crack of thunder, leaving flash behind it. Shinji nervously touched his glasses, looking for the quickest exit from the cramped trailer where the operation was being coordinated, just in case. Asuka cleared the edge of the crater, disappearing into the red-hot, smoking opening.

"I'm in," she announced over the radio. "It's getting hot in here already."

"We're compensating," Misato said, nodding to Maya, who began working on the adjustments.

Shinji drummed his fingers on his arms as the cables continued to snake into the opening. Asuka went lower and lower, and the pressure gauges along the control panels spun further and further away from the minimum, the needles trembling. Shinji started to edge towards the door. He realized that he was truly, legitimately afraid. He wasn't sure he could survive molten rock. If the cables snapped, or something went wrong…

"Asuka," Misato said, "we have to abort, you're…"

"I'm almost there," she said, "I see it. Keep going."

Misato nodded and Maya looked over her shoulder nervously as the gauges reached their limits and struggled, needles quivering. Misato sucked in a breath and held it until finally, Asuka came back on the radio.

"I've got it," she said, relief plain in her voice, "pull me up."

"Extract," Misato said, and the cables reversed, tugging Unit-02 back out of the volcano.

Misato let out a long, rasping breath and relaxed visibly, until a light flashed on the panel in front of her.

"It's moving," Asuka said, panic rising in her voice, "it's breaking the cage!"

"Let it go," Misato said. "Get her out. Now."

"We're going as fast as we can," Hyuga said.

"It's out," Asuka said, "I dropped the cage. I can't see it. Shit, I dropped the prog knife."

"Send her another one."

The laser drill fired, and Unit-01 raised and then dropped a knife behind it. For an agonizing minute, there was silence.

"Got the knife. This thing is big… shit, it didn't hurt it! It's coming back! _It's got the cables!" _

Shinji started to edge towards the door.

"Wait, I've got an idea. My coolant's leaking… thermal expansion!"

"What? Misato said, "Asuka, what are you-"

"Turn the coolant pumps all the way up! Just do it!"

"Do it," Misato nodded.

Silence.

"I… I did it! It's dead! I did it!"

"Get her out," Misato said again, more sharply. Aoba turned and shook his head. "Pressure," he mouthed.

Shinji put his hand on the door.

"She's almost up," Maya said. "She's just under the surface…. Wait… this can't be right… it snapped! The cables are _gone_!"

Shinji started to move. There was a roar, a deep, baleful bellow that shook him to the bone, transfixed him in place, like the cry of a wounded god at the end of the world. He watched as Unit-01 sprang into action, jumping into the crater.

"Mari, what the hell are you doing?"

"It's not me!" Mari screamed, "It's moving on its own!"

"The connections are reversing! It's going berserk!" Maya cried.

With another bone-shaking roar, Unit-01 crested the crater, one hand dragging itself upwards, the other grasping the ruins of the coolant cables. Its faceplate had broken open, revealing teeth beneath. It threw back its head and roared, and with a final titanic effort shoved itself up onto cold ground and pulled Unit-02 behind it. Both slid down the side of the mountain, coming to a stop half way in a cloud of dust and smoke. Unit-01 took two steps, stooped, and went silent.

"I'm okay," Asuka said, "My power's almost out, but I'm okay. _Thank you, _Mari."

"Hey," Maya said. "Where's Shinji?"

Misato, staring in shock at the horned Evangelion, didn't quite hear her.

SSSSS

Asuka sat in the plug, desperate for a drink. How the hell could she be submerged in liquid and be thirsty? It made no sense. Something about that bothered her deeply until the LCL drained and the plug came open, the door lifting away. A hand reached down with a can of soda and she took it, grateful for the cold.

"Superman?" Asuka said in surprise, looking up through the door. "What the?"

"I was passing by," he shrugged, "I heard you making some distress calls. I see your friend has it well in hand, though. I'll be on my way. Have a nice day!"

"Okay," Asuka said after taking a long pull of cold soda, "that was _weird._"


	10. The Invasion

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives. -Samuel Johnson<p>

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 10- The Invasion

**1996**

Gendo Ikari stood as the gloved steward opened the massive oaken door to the study where his new employer waited. He straightened himself reflexively, tugging at his ill-fitting suit coat. Yui had insisted he dress properly for this, and when Yui Ikari insisted, Gendo Rokobungi obeyed. He walked into the vast room, momentarily overawed by what he saw. The walls to either side were lined floor to ceiling with books, many of them behind protective glass panels, extremely old. The centerpiece was a display of scrolls behind tinted glass, lit by subdued, neutral lighting, carefully climate controlled. Though he could not discern its meaning, Gendo recognized ancient Hebrew when he saw it.

His new employer waited in a wheel chair at the end of the study, seated in front of a floor-to-ceiling window etched with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, marked out upside down. With one ashen, wrinkled claw he tapped an oversize tarot card on the desk. He'd chosen the Crowley deck over the standard Whaite version, no doubt as deliberate a gesture as the choice of card in his hand, the Fool.

"You wanted to see me, mister… Keel?"

There was a whirr of servos as the man stirred, regarding his young visitor through a crude video system, the first of many that would be installed in his skull, that had replaced his failing eyes. It painted the world around him in an inferior profusion of muted hues, like a bad watercolor, but it was superior to being blind. A thin smile crept across his dry, ragged lips as he regarded the tall, thin man in his study. Even with his muted vision he could see the drive in those eyes, the need to overcome some secret pain. He would do nicely.

"Tell me," Keel boomed, his voice enhanced by the speakers system in his chair, "what do you know of gods?"

His visitor snorted.

Keel's smile thinned, his lips pressing together.

"Let me tell you a story, young Ikari. A story about a war in heaven."

"A bedtime story?" Gendo smirked.

Keel ignored his snide remark. "There was a war in heaven, and the dark side won."

**1999**

"Isn't it amazing, dear?"

Gendo didn't give a damn about the thirteen foot long, gleaming metal rocket seated on the long work bench in front of him. He was ignoring proof, definite proof of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, not the shambling incomprehensibility of that thing in Antarctica, in favor of Yui Ikari's smile. Yui Ikari, the fire from heaven. His wife.

He strode to the rocket, letting his hand fall on the cold metal surface. It was somehow soft and hard at the same time, the texture utterly unfamiliar, like no metal he'd ever touched before. It was profoundly alien. Despite the familiarity of the design –it was just a rocket, unadorned, with a thruster at one end, a gentle taper at the other, and three stabilizing fins- the geometry of it, the proportions, were all vaguely wrong. Not frightening, not unsettling, just unmistakably different. If Yui was so enflamed by this machine, he could be too. He took a deep breath of the cool air and found his hand wandering to her hip, where her hand came to rest on it.

"We should try again," he whispered in her ear, savoring the sweet scent of her skin. She'd been working all day, her perfume long gone stale, her deodorant having long since given up the ghost. The intoxicating musk of her labors in the lab thrilled him.

"Tonight," she smiled, touching her forehead to his. "My calendar says I'll be ready."

"You never cared about the calendar before," he smirked.

"Well," she smiled naughtily, "there's science, and there's _art_."

"Oh yes," he said, taking his leave.

He closed the door behind him and locked her in. They couldn't be too careful with a discovery like this. As if the rocket knew, he was out of earshot when a tiny voice spoke to his wife.

"My name is Jor-El. I send this message from a world called Krypton…"

**2001**

He waited for his wife and his old professor under the tree where they'd spend so much time together, just talking and musing about the future, about the wonder the incredible discoveries held. In his hand he held a journal, one of two things recovered from the escape pod. The other was the daughter of the man who wrote it, who now sat in a padded cell, staring at nothing, saying less. His fingers instinctively drummed on the cover and he flipped through it again.

Everything was there. The contact experiment, the design, the Lance, the control pylons, all of it. The last few pages became increasingly incoherent, the handwriting more spidery and more wild. The final pages were a lengthy, scrawled letter to the dead man's wife, words of love she would never see. She was dead, too, dead under the sea somewhere. The final page was an equation that trailed off half-finished into a massive, childish scrawl that covered half the last page.

Fuyutsuki had arrived, steps heavy with unwitting destiny.

**2006**

"You don't have to do this," Fuyutsuki pleaded as Yui settled the helmet on her head.

She somewhat sheepishly strode past him the Contact Suit, which was only a hair's breath away from being skin tight. Gendo felt a pang of desire, absurdly, as he watched her sashay up the ladder beside the nude head of the monstrous thing in the cage below. She was still in remarkable shape. Gendo ignored Fuyutsuki as the old man made some apology about being unable to watch, ducking out of the room with a cigar box tucked under his arm, no doubt a parting gift from Yui. He'd never known the old man to smoke.

"Come, Shinji," he said unsmiling to the boy. They both watched Yui wave.

"We're ready," Naoko Akagi announced, a look of smug satisfaction on her face. The old hag was enjoying this.

"Do it," Gendo said, and more quietly, "it should be me."

He stared unblinking through the screams into the great green eyes of the thing beneath him and heard its vile whisper.

_(Give in)_

**2016**

_**(Give in.)**_

Gendo awoke with a start, having fallen asleep at his desk. Mortified, he straightened himself, arranged his hair with one gloved hand, and settled into his usual pose after pressing the button admit Akagi into his office.

"Sir," she said, much more frantically than usual, "We need you on the bridge. There's been an emergency."

"What emergency?" he said calmly.

"There's an Angel in Dogma. Some sort of growth in the Pribnow Box."

"Have you sounded the alarm?"

"…no."

"Good. Is there a risk of infecting the Evangelions?"

"Possibly, it appears to be some sort of nanite collective."

"Launch them."

"The pilots…"

He sighed, an uncharacteristic expression of his exasperation. Akagi froze.

"Well?"

"They're in the lake, sir. We had to eject them from the test bodies."

"All of them?"

"…yes."

He stood and made sure his uniform was sloppy in just the calculated fashion he preferred, to show his contempt for symbols of authority.

"Launch them unmanned. Unit-01 is priority."

"Yes, sir," she turned on her heels and walked out, speeding up as she neared the door.

Gendo followed her, at a more sedate pace, not realizing he'd clasped his hands at the small of his back.

SSSSS

"We have to _what?"_ Asuka demanded, her angry voice rendered tinny by the tiny speakers in the Pribnow Box control room.

Misato huffed and spun in her office chair, hugging the back. "I told you she wasn't going to like this."

"Also water is wet and the sky is blue," Ritsuko said testily, ignoring the girl's protest. "Shut up and strip," she said, thumbing the button for her microphone.

"I don't see why we have to be naked! Are you going to sell video of this?"

"For the last time," Ritsuko said, her voice rising, "We've cleared the control room of all male personnel and the security cameras are all shut off. You'll have complete privacy."

"Except I have to hang around bare-assed with these two weirdoes," Asuka snapped.

Misato sighed, and wheeled her chair over to the microphone. "Asuka, as your commanding officer, I am ordering you to drop trou and report to the decontamination shower. If you don't, I'm going to taze you, have Rei and Mari drag you in there, and bring Kensuke in to film and sell it on the Internet as 'Pilots Gone Wild'."

There was silence for a moment. "I hate you."

"I'll make sure Shinji sees it, too."

Maya giggled. Ritsuko rolled her eyes.

"Mari just towel snapped me!" Asuka screamed, again straining the speakers.

Ritsuko turned the speakers off. "I bet Shinji wishes he was a pilot today," she smirked.

Misato stifled a snorting laugh. "He probably does."

"What do you have him doing, anyway? He's usually in here with us."

"He's doing my laundry," Misato smirked, and spun in her chair again.

SSSSS

There was something actually quite soothing about watching the load of underwear in the industrial sized washer before him loop around and around. Shinji let out a contented sigh and leaned back in the plastic chair, settling in to perhaps drift off to sleep. He almost didn't hear the chiming as the Laundromat door opened and admitted Toji and Kensuke, who had been passing by. Of course he did hear them, and groaned softly to himself as they approached.

"Whatcha doin'?" Toji said over his popsicle.

"Laundry," Shinji lifted his head up and shrugged.

"Yours?"

"Misato's," Shinji said, and winced immediately. Suddenly Kensuke was seated next to him.

"Can I touch it?"

Shinji looked at him for the better part of a minute. "No. No you cannot touch it."

"Dude," Toji said, "that's weird, like creepy weird, not normal Kensuke weird. Besides, you're, like, dating Mari. You're lucky an upperclassman hasn't murdered you yet."

"No woman can resist my charms," Kensuke shrugged, sliding into a seat beside Shinji to watch the laundry revolve. His heard started to gently trace the circling of the wash.

"You're like my albatross," Toji said, staring at the stained popsicle stick in his hand.

He looked up when he realized Shinji and Kensuke were both staring at him in surprise.

"What? I read a poem."

Shinji perked up. "Did you hear that?"

SSSSS

Misato was running hurriedly towards the bridge when Shinji caught up to her. She ignored him, instead barking orders into her phone. He followed just behind her, trying his best to figure out what was going on. Superman couldn't just stride into NERV headquarters and start punching around the Angel, whatever (or wherever) it was, but Shinji Ikari could walk right in. He followed Misato onto the bridge and credited himself. He almost didn't flinch when he spotted his father seated high above, regarding the scene dispassionately over his hands.

Pointedly not looking at Gendo, Shinji fell in beside Misato, carrying up a cup of coffee. He'd discovered that a cup of coffee in his hand was better than a cloaking device when it came to going unnoticed at NERV, second only to a random manila folder full of innocuous forms. Everyone sort of assumed he was doing something for Misato and let him pass, even here.

"I want him off the bridge," his father announced. Shinji froze.

"Now."

He sighed, handed Misato the coffee and stalked outside, hearing the door his and lock behind him. He was starting to feel a bit useless, at least until Ritsuko Akai rushed past him, Maya Ibuki in tow, holding a petri dish at arm's length, her hand wrapped in a huge glove like an oven mitt. Shinji fell in behind them, and followed the scientists into Ritsuko's lab.

"Shinji?" Maya said, noticing him at last when they entered the lab.

Ritsuko stopped him at the door.

"Not now, Shinji. We can talk later."

He sighed as she closed the door behind her. He stood there doing his best to look dejected, wondering how long he could get away with apparently standing in front of the laboratory staring at the door. He focused his vision on the door itself, and when it faded away, becoming transparent, scanned the room until he found the petri dish. He found with some practice, he could zoom in.

"Is this the Angel?" Maya said in hushed tones, staring at the dish.

"Part of it," Akagi said, "we have to figure out how to destroy it before it contacts the MAGI or borrows into Dogma."

Shinji focused more intently on the luminous blue fungous, focusing until he could almost see the cell walls. It was then that something very odd happened. The blue sludge foamed, expanded, and shattered the petri dish in a rapid expansion of gray crystals that settled like dust on the surface of Doctor Akagi's desk.

"What the hell?"

"What is it?"

Akagi took a sample of it with a pipette and dropped it into a microscope slide.

Her eyes widened as she adjusted the device. "It's dead. It just… died. That doesn't make any sense."

Shinji's eyes widened. Of _course._

SSSSS

"Captain, you'd better see this," Hyuga announced, tapping at his keyboard. The view on the main screen switched to a security feed outside the Pribnow Box, where two uniformed Section Two agents were confronting Superman. One of them brandished a nightstick.

"You're kidding, right?" Superman said.

He turned to the camera. "I know you can hear me. I can stop this thing. Let me in."

Misato turned the commander, who did not deign to meet her gaze. She stared at him for a moment before turning to the screen and picking up one of the microphones.

"We can't let you in. You aren't authorized to be here. I have to ask you to leave."

On screen, he shrugged. "The doors are opening either way. I can stop the creature."

"We have a security leak," Gendo announced coldly. "This will be dealt with. Open the doors."

"Commander?"

"We cannot allow him to break them down. He will prevent us from extracting the atmosphere. Open the doors."

Misato nodded, and at a signal from the bridge, the sealed emergency door to the Pribnow Box opened, and the blue-and-red clad figure on the screen walked inside.

"Close the doors," the Commander said, and they slid shut smoothly at his command.

SSSSS

Two things happened that made it occur to Shinji that this might, in fact, be a bad idea. For one, he could feel the air being sucked out of the room. On top of that, a giant lumbering mass of Evangelion parts and blue fungus was lurching towards him, dragging itself along the concrete floor of the Pribnow Box. He took a deep breath, drawing up the last of the air, and proceeded.

The thing screamed when he looked at it. It was a low, angry sound, more like a chorus of voices than one singular sound. The entire mass pushed away from him, trying to draw up into a crack in the wall fifty feet over his head. Gray crystals, like snowflakes, fell around him, and he lifted off, letting his legs hang limp behind him as he pushed it back. As he bored a channel of gray away from the creature's body, he spotted the core, a tiny, half-formed thing stuck in the cracked wall. He shoved his hand into it, pulled the core out, and crushed it in his fingers. The thing shuddered, lacking the air now to cry out, and slid apart, releasing the naked, slimy forms of the Evangelion Test Bodies, armless torsos that reminded him unsettlingly of fish or dead whales. He settled back down on the floor.

The vacuum was unpleasant, but not intolerable. It made his eyes water. He tapped on the door, and of course nothing happened. He hit it a bit harder, his fist marring the steel. He shrugged and focused on the left side.

SSSSS

The camera swayed slightly as there was a rush of air into the Pribnow Box. A spot of heat had appeared, then began to glow, first red hot, then white hot. Then, it softened and melted, and Superman stepped through the steaming opening, letting out a long breath as the air rushing around him fluttered his breath.

"I _can_ breathe in space," he said, then shook his head, as if forgetting he was on camera. He looked into it and saluted, then just disappeared. He vanished, the space he occupied on moment empty the next, stepping between the frames of the video that recorded him.

"I want the base on lockdown," Gendo announced. "No one enters; no one leaves until I give the command. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Misato said. "What about the pilots?"

"Dispatch the recovery teams."

SSSSS

Shinji chopped happily away at the tuna, sighing in relief. It was almost pleasant to defeat an Angel without being pounded into the pavement, sucked underwater, blasted with a cutting beam or blown up. He tossed Pen-Pen a bit of fish and then took a bite himself, savoring the flavor.

"Hey idiot," Asuka said amiably, dropping a CD on the counter beside him, "I found this the bathroom. Is it yours?"

He picked up the disk, struggling not to stare at her as she brushed out her hair, struggling a bit with a tangle.

"Stupid LCL," she muttered, walking out of the kitchen. "Is it yours or not?"

"I don't have a CD player," he shrugged. "I'll ask Misato."

He flipped the disk over, looking at the shiny side where the tracks were etched. Something bothered him about it. He lifted it closer to his face, and froze, his eyes widening.

There was no data etched on this CD. Instead, written across the surface in letters too tiny for any human to see, was a simple, repeating message, like a mantra.

DON'T PUSH ME, "SUPERMAN"

The disk cracked between his fingers.


	11. Dolls

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. -John Lennon<p>

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><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 11- Dolls

Shinji opened his eyes and found himself seated on a train, which was not what he was expecting. He blinked at the harsh red light and sat in silence for a moment, feeling the car buck and sway gently as it rolled over the rails. Through the windows outside he saw only red light. His presence on the train confused him, and he strained to remember how the morning had started. He thought he remembered a strange new Angel, but wan't sure. He thought he remembered a strange striped sphere, the Earth shaking, buildings twisting and sinking into the ground. A great purple hand reaching out to him and the split-second decision to follow it, followed by cold, endless cold and the tearing pull of the vacuum and then a train car in the sunset.

There were three aliens seated across from him. They were yellow.

They were staring at him.

"Uh, hi," he said, blinking. "Who are you?"

"You must listen carefully," said the first alien.

"He does not know the danger," said the second alien.

"He does not know the truth," said the third alien.

"Uh," Shinji stammered. "Okay?"

"Your Continuity is in danger," said the first alien.

"The truth is hidden from him," said the second alien.

"The power is not yet his," said the third alien.

"To live, you must die," said the first alien.

"Three days in shadow, an eternity in light," said the second alien.

"An age of heroes," said the third alien, "thunders into being in your wake."

"I don't understand."

"You need not understand, you need only be." said the first alien.

"Hate from beyond the stars reaches for your world," said the second alien.

"He is in you all," said the third alien.

"There will come signs," said the first alien.

"A man will embrace his shadow," said the second alien.

"On the island of the gods, a champion is chosen," said the third alien.

"Beware the captain of the Lightning," said the first alien.

"Beware the White Riders," said the second alien.

"Beware the broken man," said the third alien.

"What was," said the first alien.

"What is," said the second alien.

"What will be," said the third alien, "If you do not act."

"Bear witness," said the three aliens in unison.

The train was gone. He stood on a beach in soft red light, and started in surprise, falling in the sand. A gigantic face gazed at him from the distance, eyes the size of skyscrapers boring into his own. The face was inhuman, and yet somehow familiar. He heard quiet sobbing and turned to see himself, only younger and slighter, kneeling atop the unmoving form of Asuka, her face and arm heavily bandaged. He was choking her.

"What was," said the first alien.

"What is," said the second alien,

"What may yet be," said the third alien.

Shinji ran towards himself, calling out for the boy to stop. As he neared, the slight, trembling figure released his grip as Asuka brushed his face with her wounded hand and he fell into her chest, sobbing.

"You cannot change this," said the first alien.

"It is fixed," said the second alien.

"Yet it need not be again," said the third alien.

"Again? What do you mean?"

Suddenly he was surrounded, a thousand Shinjis and a thousand Asukas, littering the beach, floating in the red sea, standing in silent judgment over each other, over nothing at all. He realized that they were the same, yet different. Some older, some younger, different costumes, missing limbs, eye patches. None saw the others, none saw him. All of them stood in silent judgment over the weeping boy hunched over the broken girl. All of them winced as she whispered something he couldn't hear, dripping with venom.

"This place waits at the end," said the first alien.

"It looms over you all," said the second alien.

"The choice awaits each of you," said the third alien.

"Is this real?"

"What is real?" said the first alien.

"How do you define real?" said the second alien.

"Nothing is real, all is permitted," said the third alien.

He found himself standing in a field, staring at four identical versions of himself, some older, some younger, all wearing the blue and red and shield. One was on his knees, weeping. The other had sunk to the ground, holding the broken body of Asuka in her plugsuit, like some renaissance statue. The other turned away from the others, his eyes hardened in a glare. One was contemplating a pair of cracked glasses.

"In the beginning there was one," said the first alien.

"Then the one became many," said the second alien.

"As many as stars in the sky," said the third alien.

"All are true," said the first alien.

"All are false," said the second alien.

"All are the same, and yet not the same," said the third alien.

He turned and turned, until he felt a strange sensation, a tugging. Something stared at him from the distance, something that filled him with a cold dread that rolled down his spine like icewater, congealing in his stomach. Something in the stars, something ancient and terrible that stared at him with red, red eyes, full of hate. Images flooded his mind. Far above, something fell, tumbling through panes of glass, shattering them and dragging the shards with it. The object gathered speed, growing a tail like a comet. One of the aliens put a hand on his shoulder.

"There, you must not look."

He shook his head, and found himself back on the train.

"I'm sick of this," he said, standing up. "I came in here to get Asuka out. Where is she?"

"He begins to see," said the first alien.

"She is where she is," said the second alien.

"For you to find her, you must find yourself," said the third alien.

Ignoring her, he walked to the end of the car, rammed his fingers between the doors, and shoved them open, passing into the next car, only to find the three aliens waiting for him again. He clenched his fists.

"It is not for you to free her," said the first alien.

"She must have the will to live," said the second alien.

"She must free herself," said the third alien.

Shinji ignored them, heading for the next car.

SSSSS

Asuka opened her eyes. She remembered screaming, clingy cold seeping through her limbs as the Eva was absorbed into the inky darkness, Misato shouting something at her. All that seemed distant, foggy, like her head was full of cotton. She shook her head, and saw that she was in a dimly lit train. She looked around, wondering how she'd arrived there, and froze when she saw herself sitting next to her.

Six years old, the Asuka sitting opposite her clutched the headless body of a teddy bear, staring back at her with reddened, tear stained eyes. Asuka sank into the seat, trying to slide up the wall behind her. Her heart began to pound, and her chest clenched.

"Who are you?"

"I am the Asuka Langley Soryu in the mind of Asuka Langley Soryu," the little girl whispered, "the one who lives for the admiration of others."

"I don't understand," Asuka edged away from the little girl, who stared straight ahead without looking at her.

"You are driven by a need to be accepted, to be praised and loved, but you are also afraid," the girl replied, squeezing the teddy bear more tightly.

Something flashed in her mind. An electrical cord, looped into a noose. A doll. A ceiling fan. Darkness.

She clutched her head. "No. Stop it."

"You are afraid if you allow others into your heart, you will betray Mama."

"I said _shut up!"_ Asuka screamed, kicking at the girl.

Her foot passed through the little girl who slowly turned to face her. Her eyes were buttons, and her mouth was sewn shut with yarn, blood trickling from her lips. It flowed more freely when her wounded face twisted into a smile.

"Die with me, Asuka."

SSSSS

Shinji ran to the other end of the car as he heard Asuka screamed, wound up, and punched the doors as hard as he could. To his horror, he bounced back, his knuckles bleeding from the impact. His jaw dropped in shock, and he rounded on the three yellow aliens, seated in the middle of the car.

"Why can't I open this door?"

"She is afraid of you," said the first alien.

"She is afraid of herself," said the second alien.

"You can open the door," said the third alien. "You can do anything."

He looked down at his bleeding hands. He could do anything? He reached for the door again, tugged at it, pounded on the metal, but it bent and warped under his hands, refusing to budge. Asuka screamed again, long and loud, a gurgling cry of agony.

"Stop it! Stop it! _Go away!_"

"Asuka! Asuka listen to me, I'm here!"

"No!" she screamed back, "You won't do anything! You won't help me! You won't even _hold me!"_

"Do you see?" said the first alien.

"Do you see?" said the second alien.

"He does not see," said the third alien.

"I don't want to die!"

"Asuka, listen to me, you have to let me in. I'm here, I want to help you. Open the doors."

"I can't! It won't let me! _Leave me alone!" _

"Damn it, _no!_ You have to let me in! I can get us out!"

In frustration, he punched the door again. The metal bent inwards, the opaque windows cracking into a hundred shards, but the doors did not fall. Panting, he turned to the three aliens.

"She is beginning to believe," they said in unison.

"Asuka, I don't want you to die," he pleaded, "I want to help you. I want to hold you. Just let me in."

"I can't," she said, more weakly this time. "It won't let me. Just let me die."

"No!" he grabbed the doors, "No! _No!"_

He pulled on the metal and it gave just a bit more, parting enough for her to see. Asuka lay on the floor, an extension cord wrapped around her neck, tied into a crude noose. Some _thing_ like a monstrous raggedy-ann doll held the other end, looped through one of the hanging handles that swung from the roof of the train. The thing hugged the cord with stumpy felt arms and plodded along the seats on stump felt legs, pulling on the noose, drawing it tighter. Asuka's neck began to lift from the floor and she choked, her eyes widening.

"Asuka," he cried, "I'm right here. Look at me."

She turned her head slightly, her unfocused gaze falling on him. The doll gave a tiny, angry grunt and slid back a few paces. The cord slackened, and Asuka drew a rattling, agonized breath, color flooding back into her face.

"Shinji? Why are you dressed up like Superman?"

"Asuka, listen to me. I can't get through the doors unless you let me. It's trying to keep me out."

"Why should I bother," she sobbed, "You'll just leave me. Everyone leaves me."

"I won't."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

The doors gave a bit more. He could reach into the other car, reach for her. "I'm almost there. Come on, Asuka. I'm right here."

She sat up a little, and the doll screamed in fury, a tiny sound that nevertheless filled the cabin. It broke into a run, dragging the cord along with it. The noose around her neck jerked and yanked her upright and her gurgling scream died off in a hoarse rattle. Her eyes flew wide and she flailed, reaching for him. With a final grunt of effort he shoved the doors aside, ran into the room and scooped her up. A twist of his wrist snapped the cord and she threw her arms around his neck.

"You came for me," she said, "you came for me."

"I'm here."

The doll trotted up to them. "You can't have her, not-lilim," it snarled, "She is _mine._"

He took a step back. The doll was getting bigger, and as he watched it double in size, then had to hunch over in the train car, its raggedy hair brushing the ceiling. It stared at him with blank button eyes, breathing on him with hot breath like rotting meat. Asuka whimpered, pressing against him.

"If you want her, you have to go through me."

The thing laughed at him, reaching for them with yarn fingers. It appeared, just like that, just vanished from one spot to the other, appearing behind him. No matter which way he turned, it was there, wrapping its yarn fingers around Asuka's arm, pulling at her. She whimpered soundlessly and tugged at him, feebly resisting the creature as it tried to drag her out of his arms. Its hot breath stank of hospital disinfectant and the cloying, sickly smell of death and disease. Hot tears ran down its face.

"Mama," Asuka sobbed, "mama no, I don't want to go."

Shinji stared into the thing's eyes, and they were not buttons anymore. They were cores.

His eyes narrowed. Heat lanced out.

"Burn."

The doll screamed, catching all at once, its body bursting into flames with a throaty _whump_ that filled the car with smoke. He backed away from it, but the cloying soot swirled in his lungs anyway, until he backed along the wall. Each breath became more difficult, and his lungs burned, pumping the thick air in and out of his lungs. He coughed, and red ichor swirled in front of his face. The world around him wavered.

He glanced through the ruined door.

"What is real?" said the first alien.

"How do you define real?" said the second alien.

"Is this real?" said the third.

He looked around. Of course. None of this made any sense, they weren't on a train car, Asuka was in her Eva, he was… somewhere. None of this was happening. He closed his eyes, concentrating. When he opened them, he was startled to find himself inside the entry plug, Asuka curled up in his embrace, her eyes closed. She took ragged, gasping breaths of clouded, heavy LCL. The Eva around them was dark and silent, the batteries nearly drained. He let out a sigh. Of course it was all a dream. At least in the dream he could save her.

_do not be afraid_

"Who are you?" Asuka whispered without opening her eyes.

_i will take you home_

Something around them stirred, and he heard a heartbeat like thunder.

SSSSS

"Misato, this is crazy," Mari demanded from Unit-02's plug, "we can't do this."

"We have no choice," Misato replied, staring at the red Eva and the great shadow beyond, "the Commander has given us orders."

The eyes of the command center focused on her.

"It's not right," the girl replied. "We have to give them a chance. He can get her out. I know he can."

It had been three days, three days of waiting and silence. There was no signal from the umbilical, and on the second day the frayed end of it slid out of the shadow, leaving the Evangelion inside behind. Three days of waiting, three days of silence. Now, the flying wings approached, carrying the bulk of the world's N2 arsenal, ready to drop them into the shadow in desperate hope that it would kill the Angel before it decided to move on Dogma. If it happened to vaporize Unit-01, Asuka, and Superman, the Commander considered that an acceptable loss.

Mari squealed in alarm and Unit-02 jumped back from the edge of the shadow as the spherical three dimensional "shadow" of the hyper-dimensional angle swirled into being, the shadow beneath it rippling wildly, like the sea in a summer storm. One side of the shadow bulged outward, giving the whole thing an egg shape before a purple fist punched through it, followed by Evangelion Unit-01, emerging in a sea of blood like a bizarre parody of birth. The Eva bellowed, jaws open wide, eyes gleaming with hate. With a roar, the Eva fell to the streets below, stumbling into one of the armored support buildings. It slumped after letting out a final ululating bellow.

"Is that what we're piloting?" Mari whispered.

As Unit-02 plodded towards Unit-01, the plug ejected, spiraling outwards. The door opened in a flood of LCL, and Superman stepped out, an unconscious Asuka cradled in his arms. He lighted gently on the ground and started walking towards the oncoming support crew, racing towards him at breakneck speed in Humvees and vans.

The stunned silence in the command center lasted for half a heartbeat before a thunderous cheer erupted all around Misato. She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer of silent thanks. Even Fuyutsuki couldn't help but laugh. The mirth died in this throat when he glanced at Ikari, who sat brooding in silence behind tented hands.

SSSSS

Asuka awoke and sat bolt upright in the hospital bed, looking around frantically. Rei waited patiently beside her, her arms folded on her lap, still in her plug suit. Asuka fixed her gaze on her.

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Shinji. He was in the plug with me."

The girl cocked her head to one side, confused. "Shinji was not in the plug with you. You had a dream."

She flopped back in the bed. "I thought he was. I heard his voice."

"Superman was in the plug with you. You must have admitted him after your Eva sank into the Angel."

Asuka let out a long, heavy sigh. "I thought it was him. I really did. I heard his voice."

"You were in a state of shock. I will tell him that you asked for him. The Commander will not let him see you now."

Asuka nodded, ruffling the pillow under her head, and drifted off to sleep, without really meaning to.

Later, in the darkness, her eyes opened wide.

"_No way_," she whispered.


	12. Can You Read My Mind

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Every man is afraid of something. That's how you know he's in love with you; when he is afraid of losing you. - Sven Goran Eriksson<p>

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 12- Can You Read My Mind

Shinj Ikari stood alone in the forest of the dead, the sun at his back and the wind in his hair. Around him black aluminum poles teemed, standing in their endless thousands in mute witness to the horror that was Second Impact. He could listen to a dozen lectures, watch a hundred documentaries, see picture after picture, but none affected him so much as this. Stretching out like bare stalks of harvested crops, the waist high poles covered the surrounding hills in every direction, filling the limits of a normal man's sight. It took a great deal of effort on his part to find the one that he sought.

YUI IKARI

His mother had not died in the Impact. If she had, he would never have been born. He stood and stared and fought, fought as hard as he could, and found the bonds of memory stronger than the toughest steel, ever resisting him. No matter how hard he concentrated on that name he could not remember her face, and so a tear flowed down his face, the tear of a living god for times lost. His hands clenched as he heard the VTOL transport approaching. He did not look as it crossed the periphery of his vision, setting down in the fields to his left, spraying him with hot air and a cloud of thin, red dust like dried blood.

"It's been a while," Gendo Ikari said as he approached, composed as ever, impenetrable behind reflective glasses.

"Years," Shinji said tersely, thrusting his hands in his pockets. "There are no pictures?"

"None. I destroyed them all."

"Why? Why would you do that? I forgive you for sending me away. I forgive you for ignoring me. I don't care. Why did you take her face away from me?"

"I keep what I need of her in my heart. That is enough for now."

"You threatened Asuka. I don't like that."

Shinji faced him, stared through his glasses, right through his skull. He didn't blink, he didn't back down, he didn't move.

"Do you think you can change fate?"

"Yes," Shinji said.

"I see," Gendo said, and turned away. Shinji watched him walk up the ramp into the VTOL, watched it take off. It flew away and faded into the midday sky and Shinji turned to leave his mother's empty grave.

SSSSS

"There's still time," Kozo said, looking over his shoulder at Shinji walking away from the grave, a tiny moving figure among the vast field of monuments.

"No," Gendo replied without turning to him, "Time is the one thing we no longer have."

SSSSS

"I'm home," Shinji said as he entered the apartment. No one greeted him in reply.

In the living room, Asuka sat on the couch, playing a video game on Misato's television. The soft afternoon light softened the harsh flashing of the screen on her face as she concentrated on the screen. She jumped a little when she noticed him.

"You're home," she said, turning back to the game. "Misato has that wedding tonight. She already called and said don't wait up."

He nodded and went to drop his bag in his room, then emerged with a deep sigh. "I have to do her laundry again. I'll make dinner when I get back."

"I asked her to give you the night off," she said, torqueing the controller in her hand as if it would affect the game.

"Thanks, I guess," he called back from the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Shinji?"

"Yes?"

"Come here."

He walked out into the living room. She eyed him the entire time. She turned off the game console and pulled her legs under her and leaned against the back of the couch, studying him. She drummed her fingers against her head for a moment, and her eyes narrowed.

"Sit down."

He sat down next to her and folded his hands in his lap. "Yeah?"

She looked at him a moment longer. "Kiss me."

"What? Why?"

She shrugged. "I'm bored. It'll pass the time. Wait, what do you mean why? I say 'kiss me' and you say _why?_"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "It's just that I've, uh, you know, never…"

She smirked. "Oh. I see. Close your eyes."

He blinked in confusion, then did as she said, pressing his eyes shut. He felt the warmth as he drew near, felt her hot breath play across his skin, but the contact didn't come. He opened an eye. "What?"

"These will get in the way," she said, and gingerly pulled his glasses away from his face, folded them, and set them on her lap.

She closed her eyes and he closed his again, and she rested her hand on his neck, drawing him in, tilting his head just a bit. They were close, very close, and then it happened. Her lips touched his, warm and moist and tasting ever so slightly of strawberries from the lip gloss she wore, open just a touch so that he could taste her breath, feel it mingle with hers. He shuddered, his belly muscles contracting involuntarily.

Gingerly, without opening his eyes, he put an arm around her and drew her into a second, deeper kiss, longer and harder. She shifted her weight onto him and he put his other arm around her waist to support her, and soon she was only his lap, her head above his, holding his chin with both hands. She drew back again and fell against him onto his shoulder and breathed a soft sigh under his chin.

"Wow," he said.

"Wow," she smiled.

"Asuka?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you wait here a minute? I need to show you something."

She looked up at him, but said nothing, sliding off his lap into the couch. He rose, a little less steadily than he expected, and went to his room. He closed the screen door behind him, stooped to the lowest drawer of his little nightstand, and pulled it open. Stuffed behind a few rolled up socks was the one thing he'd kept hidden here since he arrived in Tokyo-3. He pulled the old cigar box out and took it into the living room, and sat down beside her.

"One day when I was little, I was chased by some bullies," he said, holding the box in his lap. "When I got home, the teacher I lived with took me out to the shed behind our little house and showed me this." He took a deep breath. "When I was very young, my mother… she was gone, and my father sent me away to live with an old teacher of hers. She left this to him, for me."

"These are my mother's glasses." he touched the folded frames in her lap, "I found them in here."

He opened the box. Inside was the glasses case and the little scrap of cloth, blue, with _that_ symbol on it. Asuka picked it up and held it in her hands, confused. "This looks like…"

He picked up the bundled object beside the glasses case and unwrapped it, so she could see. The crystal played with the light, spreading a hundred tiny points around the room like stars. She ran her finger over it, staring at it in awe, her own reflection split and refracted a thousand ways.

"I think this will work," he said. "Take my hand and hold the crystal."

She took hold of one end and took his hand in the other, and he let the cloth fall away, exposing the surface to his touch. His fingers played across the surface, brushing lightly against hers, and the crystal began to hum, pulsing with an inner light that filled the room with the bright, cool tones of mid-day.

They were in a room. Asuka looked down and squeaked and almost let go, drawing closer to Shinji; they sat on nothing but air. She looked around, confused. They were in a crowded workshop, surrounded by machinery and lab benches, themselves covered with ornate, complex tools of strange design. The room was dominated by a ten foot long, silvery rocket. A man bent over it, fiddling with its innards through an open panel in the forward section. He sighed deeply and turned around.

"Are you seeing this?" Asuka said softly.

Shinji nodded. "He can't hear us. It's a recording. Watch."

The man was tall, his lined face crowned by salt-and-pepper black hair, his eyes a deep, piercing blue. He wore a sort of tunic over a black bodysuit, and clasped his hands behind his back.

"If you are seeing this," he said, "than my last experiment has been a success. I am your father. The vessel you see behind me carried a powerful, semi-organic supercomputer to your world, where it made it contact with your birth mother and offered her the opportunity to carry to term a hybrid of our two species."

"My name is Jor-El. I come from the planet Krypton. Our world is dying. Our sun, Rao, will go supernova at any moment- perhaps a day, perhaps a year. Radiation from the dying star has rendered our population infertile. There will be no more children born on Krypton. Our ruling Science Council has forbidden us from leaving the planet, for fear of contaminating other races with our knowledge, culture and technology. We believe that other beings must evolve and thrive on their own."

"I disagree with this ruling, but I was overridden. I have constructed this probe in secret, in defiance of our laws, so that after our race has been extinguished, we may live on. I believe that we, as an enlightened and powerful race, have a responsibility to aid others and uplift them from their suffering. I have carefully scanned all worlds within range of this experimental hyperdrive and identified those in greatest need. I have chosen a world called Earth, in a distant spiral arm of our galaxy. The people there are in grave danger. Their world is threatened by powerful, non-native beings. Its people cry out for justice, for a champion."

"My wife, Lara, passed away not long ago from cancer caused by the radiation. If we had a son, we would have named him Kal-El. Though you have been raised among human beings, my child, you are not one of them. The yellow sun of Earth and its low gravity will grant you abilities far beyond those of your peers. Use them wisely. Those who share your world are beset by ignorance and strife, but they are a good people, my child, they wish to be. It is for this reason, their capacity for good, that I have sent them you: The last child of Krypton."

The vision faded as abruptly as it began, leaving them seated on Misato's cough. Asuka's mouth worked silently for a moment, her eyes wide. She dropped the crystal as if it were on fire and jumped up, backing away from Shinji. He recoiled in surprise.

"Asuka, what-"

"_I knew it! _Why didn't you _tell me?_ Don't you trust me? Who else knows, huh? Misato? _Toji?_"

"No," he said, "No, no one else. I never told anyone else. Kaji knew-"

"_Kaji?_"

He put his hands up in a gesture of contrition. "He knew before you got here, Asuka. He confronted me, after the plane. I was… I was scared."

"Scared? What the hell do _you_ have to be scared of? You can't be hurt!"

"I… I was scared of this." he said, turning his head from her.

"What?" she demanded, "What? Huh? What's so scary?"

"I… I was afraid if I told you, you wouldn't see me when you look at me anymore. You'd see somebody I'm not."

"What do you mean?" she snapped, edging closer.

"I'm not Superman. I'm just Shinji," he said, his voice cracking, "I'm Shinji Ikari. I grew up at my uncle's house. I miss my mother. I hate school. The other things… they're things I do, they're not who I am. I don't want to be famous. I don't care if people take my picture or whatever. I just don't want anybody to be hurt."

"Oh," she planted her fists on her hips, "is that it? Poor Asuka can't take care of herself, I'll fly in and save her? Is that it?"

"I… I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's not that, I… I like you."

She stared at him for a minute, her fists quivering at her sides.

"The chocolate," she said, "Where did you get the chocolate?"

He blinked. "What?"

"The chocolates," she said, "you bought me a box of chocolates. _Where did you get them?" _

"I… Germany. I bought them in Germany."

She edged closer to him. "Why?"

"You were so _sad_. I just wanted you to feel better. I wanted to see you smile."

"You mean that, don't you? You really do. The last Angel, the train, that really was you, wasn't it?"

He nodded.

"Why? You flew into that thing, what, to come after me? You could have _died_. Why would you do that? How could you be so _stupid?_"

He stood there for a minute, looking at her. She was inscrutable, her arms crossed beneath her chest. He was stunned by her speed when she slapped him. It actually stung. He touched his cheek in surprise.

He was even more stunned when she knocked the glasses and the box and the crystal to the floor, jumped on him, and locked her lips to his again.

SSSSS

Misato had always been talented at choosing the best time and place to vomit. She leaned one hand against the brick wall of some poor florist's shop and retched, spewing the thin, mucinous puke of someone who has just engaged in the level of drinking that causes others to remark, _If a woman drinks like that, and she does not eat, she is going to die._ Kaji, in the most universal and widespread signal of love known to man, held her hair and supported her about the waist as she shivered and stumbled, trying to stand up. She fell against his shoulder, the spaghetti strap of her black evening gown sliding down her shoulder. He pulled it back up and pressed against her, keeping her from falling.

"I think you overdid it, Katsuragi."

"Of courth I did," she slurred. "I hate weddin's. You know why I hate weddin's?"

"No, Katsuragi, why?" he said. Best to keep her awake.

"'Cause they remind me of how I'm sthtupid," she giggled, poking him in the chest. "Thath why."

"You're not stupid." He sighed.

She started to fall and he grabbed her, stooping to situate her weight on his chest. Sighing, he got an arm under her knees and picked her up. She fell against his chest and sloppily put an arm around his shoulders and her breath stank of bile and booze, almost overpowering her lavender perfume. He grunted as he started to walk, bearing her weight.

"I'm thtupid. I shouldna left."

"No," he said, "I'm stupid. I should have chased you."

At length he came to her apartment block and was able to set her down on her bare feet, her high heels left somewhere along the way. He fished in her pocket for her keys as he helped her up the stairs and opened the apartment, careful not to disturb Asuka and Shinji, who were probably asleep this late at night.

"Are you feeling me up," she giggled.

"Yes, Katsuragi, I'm feeling you up," he sighed as he led her to the bedroom. Once inside he slid the screen door closed behind them and helped her get seated on her futon, helped her shimmy out of her dress, and pulled a nightshirt on over her nakedness. He laid her down on her side and made sure her head was supported in case she vomited again as her breathing slowed and slackened, signaling the onset of sleep.

Stinking of puke and lavender, he stood up and sighed, heading for the door. He thought he heard a giggle from the other side of the apartment and so stealthily slipped down to Shinji's room and slid the door open just a crack, and then pushed it open the rest of the way to find Asuka lying atop Shinji under a blanket on his futon.

"You snuck up on me," Shinji said, "_me._ How do you do that?"

Asuka giggled, offering him a rare, warm, genuine smile. Kaji almost found himself smiling.

"Two questions. One, are you both wearing underwear?"

"Yes," Asuka said indignantly, "Just what kind of a…"

"Did you… you know?"

"No," Shinji said in that honest, disarming tone of his.

"Are you going to?"

"Not today," Asuka said, resting her head on his chest.

"That's good. I'm going to let this go this time," he smirked, "but I had better not learn of you two pulling this little stunt again. Sleep in your own beds."

"Yes, _Dad,_" Asuka said sarcastically.

"Is Misato okay?" Shinji asked, dodging the subject.

"You're not getting out of this that easy," Kaji smirked, "but she'll be fine. I've seen worse."

"Kaji?" Asuka said. "Will you stay with us?"

"What, you mean in there? That would be kind of weird."

"No," she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You don't want me to stay for _you,_ do you?"

"No," she said, smirking. "You can't fly."

Kaji blinked. "You told her? I told you not to tell her. I guess she took it better than I expected."

By way of reply, Asuka stuck her tongue out at him.

"Okay," he said, "let's make a deal. I'm going to go in there and I'm going to lie down next to Katsuragi. I should probably make sure she doesn't aspirate anyway. If I wake up in the morning and she asks me to stay, I'll stay. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like a plan." Shinji said.

"Get some sleep, you two," he slid the door closed, "It's a school day tomorrow."

SSSSS

That next day was indeed a school day, and it was on that school day that a most peculiar thing happened, one so peculiar that all who looked upon it took note, although it was a surprise to very few. What happened was that one Shinji Ikari walked into homeroom at the precise same time as one Asuka Langley-Soryu, who happened to be holding his hand. At that moment, even Hikari, who's first thought was to chide them for an infraction against the school rules against public displays of affection, squealed with delight, followed shortly by all hell breaking loose as Toji Suzahara started a cheer that went 'round the classroom, utterly befuddling the poor teacher, who was just going to get to the good part of his lecture on life before Second Impact today.

The mood was so light that even Rei Ayanami favored the world with her small, sad smile, and a certain miss Mari Makinami showed her favor by jumping up and down, which only increased Shinji's favor with the male student body, particularly one Kensuke Aida, whom in her excitement she hugged, his head being at about the level of her chest, which made him very happy. The room was so utterly bereft of discipline that it took five tries for the message from the office to get through on the loudspeaker.

"Toji Suzahara, please report to the main office."

"Aww, what'd I do now?" he grinned.


	13. Dies Irae

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>"...then turn the monsters loose." -Stephen King<p>

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 13- Dies Irae

Toji awakened with a groan. His last memory had been hiding his embarrassment as he strutted across the bridge to the entry plug in his jet black plugsuit, which hugged him a little too tightly to be called comfortable. He adjusted himself, threw his shoulders back, and climbed into the plug. Doctor Akagi's voice rang in his ear, which was a little weird.

"Are you okay?"

"No, this thing is riding up my butt, and this tin can smells like ass."

Akagi, by way of reply, let out a groan.

"You'll be fine," said Misato cheerfully. "You did volunteer for this, after all!"

He knew it was coming, but the cold LCL flooding into the plug was still a shock and he still felt as if he was going to drown as the foul, metallic smelling liquid welled around his head. He held his breath in spite of being repeatedly told not to, and felt a funny shock as the fluid started to warm. Only then did he open his mouth and haltingly take a breath of the stuff, trying not to vomit. He had a new respect for the girls, this stuff tasted awful. He leaned back on the seat, grateful for the newfound warmth around him.

"It's a little warm in here," he said, slurring his words thickly as he tried to get used to speaking through a liquid.

"We're testing some things. We'll synch in a minute."

He drummed his fingers against the controls in front of him, inadvertently hitting a switch.

"Stop that," Akagi snapped. "Lean back and clear your head."

He sighed and leaned back. There was an electric thrum and colors flashed around him, causing him to jump a little. He felt a strange pressure on the back of his head and accepted, letting it grow into the odd feeling of being much, much larger than he actually was. He actually liked it a little.

"Wow," Misato noted. "You have a gift for this, Toji. You beat Asuka's initial synch ratio. Twenty-eight percent."

He moved his head, and jerked a bit when the Evangelion's head moved with him, scanning his surroundings. He stood in what looked like a ballistic missile tube, and really felt like he was standing in the cavernous round testing facility himself, the cool air playing over way, way too much body. He shook his head and swayed a bit in the seat when the Eva did the same thing. He was starting to like this.

"Hold on," Akagi said absently. "Don't try walking yet, we're still running through the system checks."

He sighed and shrugged, and sat back. He blinked in surprise when he saw himself sitting on the control yoke in front of him, or rather, his younger self, maybe six years old. He leaned forward and poked his younger self on the forehead.

"Ow," the kid said.

"Uh," Toji said. "What?"

The child licked its lips, eyes boring into his. "What is it you fear, lilim?"

A sudden realization chilled him. The Eva was moving, and he wasn't doing it.

SSSSS

Shinji was sailing through the air, but this time, it not under his own power. The sky flashed past his face, then the Earth, and then a building, and then the road, and finally there was a tremendous crash as he slammed through the side of a small store, the brickwork making the tinkling sound of bells as his body shattered it. He came to rest among the ruins of the front counter, tiny points of light dancing his vision. He found himself unable to recall the last time he'd been hit so hard. He'd taken blasts from things that could level buildings and burn away mountains and walked away with a mild ringing in his ears and a hint of a sunburn that faded after a few minutes, but as he lay sprawled across splintered wood and flowers, it occurred to him that he had never truly experienced, until now, the raw power an Evangelion possessed. Worse, that power was now wielded by an Angel that had taken over Unit-03, destroyed the test base, and had his best friend trapped within a cocoon of blue slime he couldn't see through, embedded in Unit-03's chest.

He rolled onto his hands and knees and looked up at the black giant, silhouetted against the sun, striding forward in a casual lope, arms swinging limp at its side. He took a breath, took two bounding steps, and pushed away from the Earth, taking to the sky with his arms straight out, fists together to break the wind resistance. The air pressed around him and then buffeted his sides, pressing against him as the sound barrier fell away behind him. He hit Unit-03 hard in the chin and the massive black Evangelion staggered backwards, red eyes full of hate, roaring its frustration. A massive black fist closed around him.

The crushing weight of it slammed his arms to the side and he struggled against it, chest heaving, but to no avail. The cold red eyes of the machine stared at him almost in contempt and it roared out in rage, rearing up like a berserk ape, and with a sudden swiftness the fist punched hard into the ground and released, leaving him there dazed. He was almost to his feet when the foot came down.

SSSSS

Asuka sat up in the plug, staring wide-eyed in horror as Unit-03's foot came down on Supe… on _Shinji_. Rei and Mari's faces appeared to her right in left in her heads-up-display, and she focused on them, ignoring the giant approaching from the setting sun for a moment.

"Listen," she said, "Toji's in there, and we are getting him out. Mari, go left, Rei, go right. Understood?"

"Yes," they said in unison, and both Evangelions moved, the orange and the red, covering her flanks as she approached directly.

"This is Asuka," she said, "we have engaged the target."

"This is Commander Ikari. You are ordered to destroy it with extreme prejudice. Do you understand?"

"After we recover the pilot," Asuka said.

"No. The destruction of the Angel is your only priority."

"I said after we recover the pilot," Asuka snapped. "Rei, Mari, get in position. When I say go, get its arms. I'll go for the plug."

She gave the Evangelion a command at the shoulder pylon fell open, the progressive knife unfolding into position. She reached up and took it and held it out before her in the left hand in an open, loose guard position, waving it to get the rogue Evangelion's attention. Mari and Rei edged closer, but Unit-03 took no notice, advancing with the same plodding steps. Asuka tensed and Unit-01 tensed with her, servos grinding, artificial muscles pumping.

"Now."

It all happened at once. Rei and Mari rushed and Unit-03 jumped, leaping skyward with an ease and grace that denied its size. Unit-00 and -02 skidded to a stop, barely avoiding crashing into each other as Unit-03 landed just ahead of them and turned. It grabbed Unit-02 with both hands along her left forearm and Mari screamed in pain as the black Evangelion lurched and wrenched the arm hard. Sparks flew, coolant shot out, and high-pressure blood sprayed out, making a gory rainbow. Rei wordlessly jumped into the fray, shouldering Unit-03 aside. The rogue Eva released Mari and turned to Rei, shoving Unit-00 into the hillside behind it. Unit-03's arm bubbled and thick, ropy blue mucous began to pour out, falling on Unit-00's right arm. Rei croaked something, choking on the pain.

Asuka charged. Rei screamed. Unit-00's arm blew off with the thump of explosive bolts and fell dead to the ground. Asuka snarled a wordless cry of rage and tackled Unit-03, tearing it away from Rei. The black Eva grappled with her, punching her full in the face. Blood trickled from her mouth into the LCL and her head swam. Hands clamped around her throat and she was shoved back into the seat, spasming from the sympathetic pain.

"God damn it," she croaked through the closing of her throat, "Where are you?"

There he was.

Shinji landed on Unit-01's breast plate and put his hands between Unit-03's and pushed, straining against them. The pressure on her throat relieved just a bit and she snapped out of it, shaking the stars out of her eyes, and took Unit-03 by the wrists, peeling the hands away from her throat. Shinji took off and headed for Unit-03.

"I'll hold it," she said, activating the external speakers, "Get Toji out!"

He stopped halfway when a pair of muscular arms erupted from Unit-03's shoulders, shattering the pylons and sending plates of armor bouncing across the landscape. One arm grabbed Shinji and pounded him into the mountainside while the other clamped on Asuka's throat, even harder than before. She struggling for breath, bubbling the LCL in front of her face. Her nose began to bleed, a thin trickle of blood sliding out into the LCL in front of her face, clouding her vision. Unit-03 pushed her Eva back down into the hillside with three hands, two on each of hers, one on her throat, and one still holding Shinji.

She heard a voice.

"You must fight back."

"T-Toj-"

"Will die anyway if you fail. Destroy the target."

"Nghhhchh… No.. . Suppp…"

"Very well," the Commander intoned, a hint of something in his voice, like sunlight glinting off ice.

Like the slamming of a door, synchronization went dead. The pressure released and she lurched forward in the seat, relieved, and slammed the butterfly controls forward in the darkness.

"What the hell?"

There was a whirring sound, and something unfolded from behind her, reaching up and around. Two thin metal arms clamped down on top of her fists and locked into place atop the control yokes as the machine connected to the controls in front of her. The world around her flashed into being as she struggled against the bonds holding her hands in place.

DUMMY PLUG SYSTEM ACTIVATING

"What is that?" she screamed, "Answer me! Answer me god damn it!"

She felt feeling in her hands, dulled, but it was there. She watched as Unit-01's hands straightened and then pulled out hard to the side, the phantom feeling jarring as he arms remained in place but another set opened wide. Unit-03 screamed in rage and pain as its arms tore free, spraying blue blood across the landscape. Asuka began to draw deeper and deeper breaths, faster and faster, and Unit-01 shuddered around her as it roared.

"Stop it!"

Now free, Unit-01's hands grabbed the one holding her throat and twisted it, snapping the bones within in half a dozen places. Blue blood spattered her vision, the droplets clinging like insects. Unit-01 kicked out and launched Unit-03 back, then sprinted forward, throwing her back in the seat. She pulled at the controls in vain as Unit-01 jumped atop the rogue Evangelion and pinned it to the nearest hill.

Shinji appeared between them, going for the plug again. He landed beside Unit-03 and tried to roll it over, and failing that began digging at the earth beneath its neck with his bare hands. She saw the tears glistening on his face as Unit-01 reached down and picked him up, the absurd feeling of his body grinding in her left hand.

"Stop it!" she pleaded _"Stop it!" _

Unit-01 ignored her as its fist opened and the other came down, crushing Shinji between them. He went limp and the hand closed again and then tossed him hard to the side, even as Unit-01 punched, shattering Unit-03's head in a splatter of armor and blue blood and brain matter, cratering the hillside.

"Turn it off! _Please turn it off!"_

Unit-01 continued on, roaring again. Its hands shoved into Unit-03's chest and she felt blood and gore between her fingers as it tore out the Evangelion's core and crushed it, then tossed the pieces aside, reaching into take long, loopy muscles like intestines that slid between its fingers, and hers, like sausages. She started to scream and couldn't stop, thrashing against the controls, trying to pull her hands away. Ropes of flesh slid down the mountainside like water after a summer rain until at last Unit-01 found what it sought, the plug, the precious plug covered in luminous blue lichen. The Dummy System held it up, as if for her to see.

"Please," she pleaded hoarsely, "Please don't, please."

The hand closed.

"Shut it down," the Commander said, "transmit the auto-eject signal."

SSSSS

Shinji walked in a daze through the hospital halls, locating his destination by the sound of the sobbing. His head throbbed and his right eye was swollen shut, blackened, and his costume was torn and dirtied, the cape lost. He stumbled a bit as he found the room he was looking for. Misato sat stunned, her head bandaged and her arm in a sling, Ritsuko by her side in a wheelchair, her eye covered in a medical patch and her left leg out straight, wrapped in a cast.

In the bed lay Toji.

He was a ruin. His face was a map of bruises, both eyes swollen shut, most of his head covered in banadages. His chest rose and fell raggedly, and his left leg was gone, just gone from the knee down, tapering off beneath the sheets, and his right arm ended in a stump at the elbow. Unable to resist, Shinji focused and saw the ruin, the cracked ribs, the bruised spine, the collapsed and then reinflated lung. He was intubated and had IV's and a dozen sensors all over his body, hooked to the beeping machines that surrounded him.

He sank to his knees.

"Why?" a tiny voice said.

He looked up. Hikari spoke without looking away from Toji, seated by the bed. Toji's sister was curled in her lap. "Why didn't you save him?"

"I-"

"You're his _hero_," she sobbed. "He looks up to you. You're _Superman! Why didn't you save him?" _

Asuka appeared, still in her plugsuit, the bottom half of her face still rusty with dried blood. Her lips trembled and she clutched herself, wavering as if uncertain if she could come in. Hikari gave her half a glance and said nothing for a long time.

"Get out," she said, the words warped by her sobs, "all of you, get out."

Asuka sank down beside him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Come on," she tugged at his shoulders, "let's go." Misato rose and took a position behind Ritsuko's wheelchair, stumbling a bit as she did, forced to push with one hand.

Shinji didn't move. He just stared with his one open eye, stared at the ground. She leaned her head against his. "Come on, Shinji."

Three sets of eyes locked on her. Hikari's head snapped up. Tears stung his eyes. Asuka pulled back, her eyes open wide in shock. "Oh God, I- I- I'm sorry, I forgot, I-"

"S-Shinji?" Hikari breathed.

He nodded.

"Get away from us," she hissed.

SSSSS

They ended up in Ritsuko's office, of all places. Misato paced as the scientist sat in her wheelchair in front of her computer and brooded, staring at her cast. Shinji sat in an office chair that compressed under his weight, cradling his head in his hands. In the torn, dirty remnants of his costume he looked like a scared little boy in his pajamas, every once in a while shuddering with a stifled sob. Asuka sat next to him, her arm over his shoulders. She was still in her plugsuit, but Misato had insisted on wiping the blood of her face herself with a warm cloth that lay discarded in the wastebasket. She'd torn her A-10 clips off and thrown them in with it. Rei and Mari had found them, the former standing in silence, gazing at the whole thing with red eyes over her tiny mouth twisted into a tight frown. Mari paced outside, on her telephone.

"That was Kensuke," she said, hanging up, fumbling for a pocket in her plugsuit before she realized there was one and her arm sort of went limp. "I didn't tell him about… about you, but I had to tell him something. I… I..." her voice trailed off, shrinking as it did.

She left the room without her usual bounce, her arms limp, and Misato sighed deeply. Silence reigned in the room. Asuka hugged Shinji tighter and shuddered, a sob dying in her throat. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him and Misato sighed.

"I thought… when Unit-01 grabbed you, I _felt_ it… I thought it killed you."

"I won't leave you," he said, resting his chin on her head.

"This is my fault," Ritsuko whispered.

"What?" Misato said, looking up.

Ritsuko didn't move, her face didn't change. She just stared at her cast. "I did this. It should have killed me. It should have been me."

"What do you mean?" Shinji said. "It's not your fault. The Evangelion…"

"The Dummy System," she cut him off, "I designed it. I built it."

Ritsuko's face was a naked mask of shock as Shinji knelt down beside her and gingerly embraced her."You built it. You didn't activate it. That was _him_."

He stood up, and headed for the door.

"Shinji," Kaji said, appearing in the doorway. "Don't do this."

"I am," he said, striding for the door. "Keep them safe."

"Shinji," Asuka said, grabbing his arm.

"I… I'll be right back," he said grimly. Kaji stepped into the room, out of his way, as he left.

SSSSS

Shinji found the doors to the command center locked and tore them open with his bare hands in a squeal of metal, tossing them behind him as he entered. He pushed off from the first level and came to rest in front of Gendo, hovering a few feet off the ground. There he remained, the man staring at him over his white gloves. Fuyutsuki backed away.

"I expected you."

"Shut up," Shinji said, "_shut up._ You enjoyed it, didn't you? You wanted Asuka to _feel _it when that thing crushed Toji. You want everyone to be a sour old monster, like you."

"I did what was required. One life does not balance against-"

In a rage, he grabbed the desk, tore it from the floor in a squeal of metal as the bolts that held it to the floor gave and hurled it into the wall where it shattered with a crash and an explosion of splinters and papers. He grabbed Gendo by the collar and hauled him to his feet, lifting him several inches off the floor.

"_No,_" he snarled, "Every life is precious. _Everyone matters_. You think because you lost mom you have some kind of a-"

"Is what what you think this is about?" Gendo cut him off, slipping a hand into his jacket.

"What are you going to do, shoot me?" Shinji smirked. "I could-"

"We'll see," Gendo said, pulling a small gray box from his jacket. He slipped it open and a faint green glow bathed the room.

Shinji recoiled, toppling from the air as Gendo fell with a grunt. He landed hard and rolled onto his side, panting. He felt as if he was being choked and his vision swam. Gendo held the box over him, and the tiny crystal inside, with a smirk, waving it like a holy symbol in benediction.

"Do you know what this is?"

Shinji reached for him, his hand shaking.

"Ikari, for God's sake," Fuyutsuki said, edging closer.

Gendo ignored him. "This is the primary power source for the rocket. You know the one I mean. Did you think we threw it away? That no one else knew about her contact with it? We tore it to pieces, studied every part of it, tried hard, very hard to replicate its technology, and failed. All we have is this. It emits a clean radiation, harmless to humans… but it's not harmless to you, is it, _Kryptonian_?"

Shinji pushed himself to his hands and knees, but his legs failed him. His muscles burned, the pain of being pummpled by Units-01 and -03 forgotten, replaced with a dull ache that filled ever cell of his body. He felt like was moving through glue, finding it difficult even to breathe. It took a firm effort not to vomit on the floor at Gendo's feet, and he fell back onto his side. A sudden coldness formed in his gut, and he wasn't sure if it was the radiation from the green rock or the realization that his father knew everything, that he'd planned all of this out.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you _understand? _Do you think you can save the world by flying around in your silly costume and punching things? Did you think you would just fly in your cape and save the day? Win the girl? Fix everyone's problems? You do what you do because I allow it. You're _mine_."

"S-sir," Maya interrupted, "I…"

"Pattern blue!" Aoba cried, "It's an Angel! Approaching from the southeast! It's _huge!"_

Gendo snapped the box shut.

"Handle that," he said. "Unless you're going to leave it to Rei and Mari. I doubt Asuka is in the mood to pilot."

Shinji stood up, shakily, leaning on his knees. "I will. Then I'm coming back for you."

"Oh," Gendo whispered, "I'm counting on it."

SSSSS

Kaji grunted as Fuyutsuki muscled him out of the way with surprising strength, forcing his way into Ritsuko's office. The older man pointed at him.

"No games. You have safehouses?"

"I don't-"

"I said no games," the old man repeated, "get her," he pointed to Asuka, "and get there and stay there, do you understand?"

"Yes," Kaji said sharply, a ball of ice forming in his stomach. "Come on, Katsuragi."

"I'll stay here and keep Section 2 off of you while you get off the base."

"They'll kill you for this," Kaji said as he bundled the girl out the door, his arm around her shoulders.

Fuyutsuki nodded.


	14. Kyrie Eleison

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 14- Kyrie Eleison

Shinji took a deep breath as he exited the Geofront through a surface access station and felt a wave of relief flow over him as the sun, huge and red on the horizon, pricked his skin, the warmth seeping into his bones. He came to a hover above the skyline, looking out to the east, from which the next Angel approached, hot on the heels of the creature that had taken over Unit-03 only to be destroyed along with it by the raging Dummy System-controlled Unit-01. He felt a little sick from the green rock his father had waved in his face and thinking of Toji trapped in that monstrous thing sent a tremor through his body.

The Angel was enormous, as big as an Eva, actually bigger, since its entire body was a vaguely inverted egg, or a muscular man's torso, limbless and headless. It was mostly blackish green, the sheen of its skin suggesting a hard carapace. A red core glowed in its center, ringed by body protrusions, and over that there was a bony mask with black voids for eyes and a mouth that looked like it was either laughing or frowning silently depending on the angle from which he saw it. By now he'd learned to hang back and let the automated defenses systems have a turn at it.

All around him, as the skyscrapers full of offices and homes slid into the ground, the remaining structures opened up, giant metal doors and facades of false windows splitting open to reveal batteries of missiles and massive Gatling guns that trained on the Angel with gigantic metal groaning sounds. The Angel alarm sounded faintly in the distance, and he made a quick scan to make sure that no one was at least relatively close to the Angel. By now, people had become used to rushing to the shelters without his help.

The weapons fired. The glow of rocket exhaust and gunfire lit up the dusk like midday, flashing like strobes. Explosions and impacts burst all over the creature's body, but it simply floated forward, implacable, its tiny not-arms waving like flags in the wind. It slowed a bit, and regarded the nearest armaments building with a sort of indifference malevolence. There was a spark in its eyeless sockets and the building vanished, simply disappeared in a huge explosion of light and heat that reminded Shinji grimly of the N2 mind that had totaled Misato's car, what felt like an eternity ago.

He ignored the shells and missiles as he streaked towards the creature, knowing he had to take it alone, and take it now, and that the weapons weren't hurting it any more than they would hurt him. The shrapnel from the explosives clattered across his body, pricking him like raindrops. The thing turned to him and gazed down at him eerily, its empty mask, like a Greek actor's mask, staring at him in silence. No roars, no blasts of energy, nothing. He hit the core with both fists, traveling at the fastest speed he could muster.

He simply bounced off.

SSSSS

Mari was running, Rei following behind her. There had barely been time to recover their Evas before the Angel appeared, and Asuka was gone, drug off somewhere by Kaji, along with Misato. That left her and her crimson-eyed companion to pilot Unit-02 into battle. She ran by the crowd of technicians doing something to Unit-01's plug and ran for Unit-02, which stood still in the cage, still bearing the damage from the battle against the rogue Eva.

She kept her mouth shut as she ran up the stairs to the plug. It was still the same one she'd been in when the Angel had tossed Unit-02 over its shoulder, which filled her with a pang of rather silly nervousness. She slid into the control chair, took the yokes in hand, and waited patiently as the LCL flooded the plug, at least as patiently as she could, tapping her feet against the sides of the controls. The sensation of synchronization filled her with a rush and as the Eva's systems merged into her mind she heard the bridge chatter around her, as if it were being whispered into her ears.

"It's rejecting it," Doctor Akagi's voice said harshly.

She blinked. Who was rejecting what?

"We will try with Rei," the Commander said clearly. "Launch Unit-02 as a distraction."

A distraction? That wasn't-

She shook her head. She had to keep it together, keep her focus, keep it in the game. She walked Unit-02 to the launch tube, felt the locks grasp its shoulders, and braced herself for the sudden rush of acceleration, which was much shorter than she'd anticipated. They'd launched her into the Geofront, which didn't make any sense. The Angel was still on the surface, and-

She felt the crash as one of the skyscrapers, slung under the foundations of the city, slid ponderously down, broke free of its moorings, and shattered into rubble across the top of the headquarters pyramid. Her mouth fell open in naked shock as a rippling boom shook the massive array of mirrors over her head, sending tiny shards of glass falling like rain. A burst of white hot light filled her vision as a beam of light pierced the roof of the Geofront cavern, followed by a cloud of debris and glowing cinders.

The Angel, enormous and silent and towering, slid down through the opening. She shook herself out of her reverie and went for the weapons awaiting her around the surface; this had been planned. She took a pair of pallet rifles first, snapping them under the Eva's shoulders. The Angel neared the floor of the Geofront and she opened up on it with both guns, the recoil making the screen in front of her vibrate, like film around to break. She didn't realize she was letting out a feral scream until her guns ran dry and she saw the Angel glide forward from the cloud of smoke, utterly unscathed.

Shinji shot through the opening in the cavern, circled around and around to build up speed, and slammed into the thing's side, knocking it off its path, but only incrementally. Mari went for a pair of rocket launchers, shrugging them onto her shoulders, and he saw and darted off as she fired. Thin streaks of vapor followed the projectiles as they looped around and slammed into the Angel, exploding with twin blasts. The launchers _chuk-chuked_ and slid a new pair of missiles into place.

"What the hell?" Mari demanded as the Angel moved forward unscathed.

She fired again, waited for the weapons to auto-reload, then fired again. All four missiles hit and had as little effect as if she'd spit at it. She threw the weapons down, reached up, and drew both prog knives from her shoulder pylons and ran forward, screaming in rage, arms held wide. The Angel, for its part, had apparently decided it was bored with her attempts to harm and it, and the tiny, flag-like protrusions at its shoulders flopped out into two long ribbons of silvery metal and lanced out, neatly severing her arms at the shoulders.

Mari's scream, amplified by the Eva, rang out through the Geofront. She saw the ribbon-arms coming at her head when synchronization shut down and the world around her went dark, leaving her cold, alone, and clutching her shoulders.

Mari's scream drove Shinji into a fury and reared back, aimed at the Angel's core, and hit it as hard as he could. This time, the bony protrusions snapped shut around the core just as he hit. Some of them broken off, spiraling off in all directions as he struck it, and the creature shuddered. He hit it again and it let out a low, rumbling moan, to which replied with a cry of triumph.

Then, it hit him with its beam.

SSSSS

The sudden boom from below made the ground shake and Kaji fought hard to keep control of the van he'd hotwired, skidding to one side as he floored it up the ramp onto the highway leading north of the city. He was in less than an ideal situation. For one, call him paranoid, but NERV probably had some way of tracking vehicle traffic in the city. For another, there was an Angel tearing up the city. For yet another, he was reasonably certain Asuka was about to murder him.

"I have to get to Unit-01!"

"No," he said flatly.

"Kaji…" Misato said, her voice wavering. "Are you sure…"

"Yes, now both of you shut up while I try to keep us from getting killed."

"He's hurt," Asuka snapped, "he needs me. He can't take that thing by himself."

"I'm not letting you walk into a trap," Kaji growled, muscling the wheel to keep the van just barely under control. "I don't know what Ikari has planned, but he needs you for it and Fuyutsuki knew it."

He straightened out and floored it. One of the advantages of the oncoming apocalypse was that it tended to clear the roads. The van's old engine chugged and he let out a groan of frustration. Years of the spy game left one a bit flustered when forced to drive a regular car. Asuka sitting behind him with her arms crossed over her chest, blue eyes boring into his back didn't help. He fought the urge to glance at her, instead focusing on the road.

"Where are we going?" Misato demanded, sounding a little surer now.

"A safehouse."

"Why do you have _safehouses?_ What are you hiding from me?"

"Technically, it's not my safehouse."

Misato's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I have a gun."

"When you…" he trailed off, looking in the rearview mirror. "After we graduated, I didn't join the Boy Scouts. I fell in with some people. I learned what these people, all these UN groups, were doing form the other side."

"You're some kind of spy now?"

He felt a sudden prickling on the back of his neck and let off the gas as a column of light erupted from the center of the city, searing the nearby buildings, bringing the light of dusk to that of noon. Asuka's head whipped around and she let out a low growl.

He shook his head. "Not exactly."

SSSSS

Shinji had the sudden and profound realization that he was in a great deal of trouble. The last blast had vaporized his cape, seared off much of the top half of his costume and let him in a smoking crater on the ground. The Angel turned and with something like contempt simply blew away the top two thirds of the NERV pyramid, apparently no longer concerned with dealing with him now that he was no longer directly attacking it.

That was when Rei reached the surface, piloting Unit-00. Under its left arm, the only one remaining, it held a huge canister rather than some other weapon, and Shinji paled when realized the import of what he was seeing. Rei was charging the Angel like a footballer, an N2 mind held under one arm. He was too slow. Rei reached it, shoved the canister out with one hand, and the Angel's AT-Field flickered to life, holding it back. Unit-00 struggled, shoving at the mine, and he could see Rei's face twisting in concentration as she pushed the canister through the field. Finally it opened enough to admit her arm and the canister pressed against the Angel's core.

He shoved Unit-00 back, crossing the space between them in an instant, just as the mine blew. The blast took them both, sending him into a toppling roll into the ground. A mushroom cloud lofted up and pressed against the floor of Tokyo-3, as if trying to push up through the city. Unit-00 rolled back and fell onto its side beside him, regarding him with one massive red eye. Its left arm had been burned off at the elbow, and its umbilical was gone. He focused his eyes and saw Rei look at him, then followed her gaze back to the Angel, standing over them unscathed. It turned from them and fired a blast into the floor of the Geofront.

"Shinji," Rei said, somehow realizing that her voice would carry to him through the Eva.

He nodded, looking at her.

"The Commander has put the final failsafe into effect."

He looked at her in confusion.

"Twelve N2- tipped missiles are locked on the Angel's blue pattern."

"Tell," he gasped, "tell Asuka… Toji…"

She nodded. "I am your friend, Shinji."

He took off.

SSSSS

Kaji pulled off the highway and slowed in time to see the most unnerving sight he had ever seen before- the streaking contrails of twelve very large, very dangerous looking missiles high in the sky over Tokyo-3, sliding gracefully in from all sides in a great circle. The hills outside the city provided a perfect vantage point to watch and if he was right about what tipped those missiles, there was no point in running. The blast radius would cover their present location and destination both. He pulled to a stop and stepped out of the van numbly, Asuka and Misato following him. Asuka's plugsuit gloves creaked as she gripped the guard rail in front of them.

"I told you they needed me," she snapped, not looking at him.

He said nothing as the missiles hit their afterburners and began to pick up speed, growing more distinct as they dipped out of the upper atmosphere.

SSSSS

Hikari rose form where she'd thrown herself over Toji's ruined body to shield him from the dust that rained down from the roof above him when the battle outside shook the hospital. Most of the people, the doctors and nurses, had just left him here, running to save their own lives in the shelter, but she'd stayed, stayed with him. She wondered where his father was.

She watched the missiles coming in and a tear slid down her cheek.

SSSSS

"Three minutes," Maya announced, tears running down her face. "The missiles will hit before the Angel breaches Dogma."

Behind her, the Commander nodded, she didn't look at him.

The view of the Geofront interior was hazy, indistinct. She could see Unit-00, scorched, one eyed, like a dead Cyclops lying on the ground. She watched Superman take off and let out a gasp. The Angel turned, as if sensing his intent, and instead of letting out another blast raised its AT-Field. He met it, slammed into it, and tore it apart with his bare hands with a titanic crunching sound that she felt more than heard, like glass breaking in another room.

She let out a gasp as he grabbed the Angel's face, or what passed for it. He pulled on it and the entire creature moved, dragged at the end of a thin column of rubber muscle. It let out something like a scream and a blast of energy erupted form the mask, hitting the tiny figure of the boy in red and blue point-blank. The view screen shook.

He was still there, still pulling. The Angel began to drift upwards.

"Two minutes," Hyuga said absently beside her.

Whatever it was he did to fly, however it was he moved through the air without apparently propulsion, he poured it full on now, rocketing upwards and taking the Angel with him. They both shot upwards through the opening the Angel had blasted in the massive cavern, erupting out into the city. Maya frantically typed in the commands to switch to the surface cameras and watch the ascent. The Angel and Superman both had already moved so high the missiles were beginning to change course, arcing upwards.

"That's impossible," Aoba breathed, far to her left.

"No it isn't," Hyuga said, his voice creaking. "He's Superman. He can do anything."

SSSSS

Something in Kaji's gut sank when he realized what he was seeing. Shinji drug the Angel skyward, so high now that the missiles had to correct to follow him. He was pulling it away from the city, as well, and thankfully away from them. He had the urge to turn, but it occurred to him that he owed it to the boy to watch, he owed him that much. Realization flooded him as the missiles drew into range. They would nearly touch before they detonated, they'd have to, to overcome an AT-Field of that magnitude.

He'd owed the boy so much more than this. If he'd come clean from the beginning, been willing to face what he needed to do, accept what that meant, he might have changed something. Prevented this. Instead he'd allowed his own petty fears to stand in his way and was watching a good boy, a good man, kill himself for their sakes.

The Angel, which was all he could see now, was now so far away it was barely a glint in the sky. The missiles touched, and released the contained fury of a dozen suns that flared together as one, illuminating the nighttime sky as if it were the middle of the day. Instinctively, he grabbed Asuka and turned around, shielding her form the blast wave with his body. Misato grunted as she fell against the van, but the shockwave wasn't that bad. He'd pulled the Angel far enough away. He'd done it. Kaji looked up. The explosion had faded now, leaving only empty sky.

Asuka shuddered, and shoved him away. "Get away from me,"

Robotically, he watched them get in the van, got up, started it. Thankfully, it had been shut off, so he didn't need to worry about electromagnetic pulse. The rest of the ride to the safehouse went in silence, and he didn't volunteer to break it. The house was oddly out of place in the hills above Tokyo-3, actually not far from Shinji and Asuka's school. The building proper was hidden from the road by a turn behind pines, and the van's wheels crunched on gravel when he pulled to a stop.

"Come on," he said.

He slid a key from a chain around his neck and opened the lock. The front room of the house was filled with Western furniture, all covered in tarps. Kaji ignored it, walked to a grandfather clock in the middle of the room, and yanked the tarp from it in a cloud of dusty as Misato and Asuka followed behind him, the latter half stumbling, her eyes unfocused. He stared at the clock for a moment, then uncovered one of the couches. He took Asuka's shoulder, and she roughly shrugged out from under his grip.

"Sit here," he said gently, taking her by the arm. "I don't want you to see this."

In silence, she sat in the living room, staring at the darkened space around her without comment. Kaji watched her for a moment, swallowed, and turned to the clock. He put his hands on the clock's face and slowly wound the minute hand around until the time read 10:47. The clock chimed, shook, and folded inwards on a silent, well-oiled hinge, opening onto a small corridor he had to turn sideways to fit through. Misato followed him, and he didn't object.

The corridor opened onto a staircase leading down into a dank natural cavern- a small, pale shadow of the original of course, one of dozens of temporary facilities like this set up all over the world. There was a computer, a small work table, and half of a dozen crates surrounding a massive, squat, angular vehicle under a drop cloth.

"What is this place?" Misato demanded, looking around. "Is this yours?"

"It is now," he said softly. "He left it to me."

He found the crate he needed, opened it, and began to undress. Misato watched him in silence, not drawing close enough to see him as more than a shadow. He threw his clothes to the floor and began drawing a suit of reinforced material from the crate before him. He pulled on the lower half first, then drew his arms into those of the suit and shrugged it on. The clasps were a bit unfamiliar, but he had it on soon enough. The cape came next, and once it draped around his shoulders, it looked like a pair of wings. He pulled on the heavy gauntlets and then slid the belt around his waist; he picked up the last item in the crate, a heavy mask.

"Left it to you? Who are you talking about? I thought your family…" she trailed off.

"Bruce," Kaji said cryptically, without looking at her. He could have been talking to her, or to the mask itself. "His name was Bruce. He wasn't family. Not exactly."

He stared at the cowl for a moment, hanging limp in his hands like the skin of a dead snake.

"Go keep an eye on Asuka," he said quietly.

Misato took a step back, but didn't leave. He hesitated for a moment, and then with the quick movements of a man taking bitter, unwanted medicine, he pulled the cowl down over his head and settled it into place. He turned around.

"My _God_," Misato whispered, and then fled back up the stairs.


	15. On Leather Wings

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 15- On Leather Wings

Mari stumbled over to where Rei sat, knees curled to her chest, beside the ruined form of Unit-00. The pale girl was shaking, rocking herself, and looked confused as if she'd simply locked up, unable to process how to display the emotions she was feeling. She sat down beside her fellow pilot and threw an arm around her, and swept the devastation with her gaze.

The superficial upper layers of headquarters had been devastated, the front and top section of the pyramid a twisted, cratered ruin, which still smoked from the heat of the blast. All around them, the trees had been flattened and the foliage that covered the floor of the Geofront burned away. Several of the buildings over their heads leaned drunkenly and massive groaning sounds echoed across the cavern as Tokyo-3's damaged foundations twisted. She pushed her glasses up her nose, noting idly that one lens had been cracked in the fight, and wiped a thin trickle of blood from her lip. She didn't remember being hurt.

There were men in suits with guns running towards her. Rei made no reaction, didn't even seem to notice. Mari hugged her tighter as the men approached, guns trained them. They fanned out into a semi-circle, looking in all directions. One of them lifted the cuff of his jacket to his mouth and spoke into it.

"We have them."

She noticed the glint of handcuffs in the closest man's hand and the world went crazy. Something small and black trailing a thin wisp of smoke bounced between the agents' feet and rolled, then spun crazily as it spewed gas with a loud, angry hiss, like a serpent. The Section 2 men went wild, looking around in all directions, the laser sights on their guns lighting up in the mist.

Something, a huge shadow, moved in the vapor, and Mari pressed against Unit-00's armor, instinctively afraid. Whatever it was, it was enormous, and she thought she saw wings. Rei still sat rocking herself, and Mari struggled to pull her to her feet, failing. She saw more shapes moving in the mist and there was a gunshot, a horrible cracking sound that sent her diving to her knees. A bullet ricocheted off Unit-00 twenty feet over her head, ringing like a bell.

A Section-2 man ran towards her, a look of naked panic on his face, his gun tossed aside. Mari's mouth worked silently as a vast black shape emerged from the fog behind him, wrapped him in strong arms and leathery wings, and dragged him back into it, the shape of the two merging into a shadow on the vapor. A moment later the figure emerged and she instinctively pressed up against the Evangelion's side, looking from side to side for an escape route. Rei stopped rocking and fixed her level gaze forward.

He was tall, dressed head to toe in black body armor, with a long black cape that was scalloped to suggest the wings of a bat. He raised his hands, black gloved, and spread his fingers, as if to show he was unarmed. Mari started to say something, when a Section 2 man darted out of the gas behind him. Without turning, he snapped his right hand up and back into a fist, where it met the agent's face and sent him with a broken, bleeding nose to the ground.

Mari tried to say something, but the words came out as strangled gasps.

"Who are you?" Rei asked quietly.

"I'm Batman."

/\../\

Kozo Fuyutsuki leaned his head against the wall behind him and recalled the story of Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary sword saint who started two schools of sword fighting, wrote a well-known treatise on warfare and philosophy still studied to that very day, and once defeated an opponent using a wooden sword he'd carved from an oar when he forgot to bring an actual sword with him. As he felt the seeping cold of the containment cell crawling into his bones, he took a deep breath and attempted to compose a poem describing his situation, but the only word that would come was _Yui. _Vaguely, he wondered why they hadn't simply shot him yet, and when he heard the scuffing of boots in the hall, it briefly occurred to him that Ikari simply had more on his hands than shooting his old friend in the back of the head.

There was a commotion in the hallway, now. There was no light in his cell, only three thin strips of light on the back wall where illumination spilled in from the harsh florescent lights in the hallyway. When the lights cut off with a thump, he sat up and took notice, walking to the window. He thought he saw something move in the darkness, between the gray-suited men he could barely see as his eyes adjusted. There were six heavily armed Section 2 guards outside his door, which at the time had struck him as rather farcical, as if they had so much to fear from an old man.

The gunshot rang out in the hallway, loud even when muffled by the silencer. In the ringing silence that followed, a spent shell casing tick-tocked onto the floor, and the five remaining guards noticed that one of their number was gone. Not shot, not wounded, but gone. The rest of them pulled into a tight knot, covering every direction. Fuyutsuki almost warned them when he saw the double-hung ceiling panel above their heads slowly lift, grasped by black gloves, and slide silently out of the way. He recoiled as he watched the shape, darker than the blackness of the hallway, drop down between them.

It wasn't possible. He was _dead._

"Where are you?" one the guards, the one that had shoved Fuyutsuki into the cell, called.

"Here," a breathy whisper replied in his ear.

It all happened at once. There were three shots, all went wild and chipped the concrete walls of the cell block. Fuyutsuki ducked, just low enough to see through the window. There was a flash of leathery wings as he moved among the guards. Three dropped instantly, their legs going out from under them. Their machine pistols clattered down the hallway, coming to rest against the wall. Too close, too packed in to shoot, the other two grabbed at him. One lost purchase, his hands slipping over his cape. The other's arm was caught in an elaborate grapple, loudly grinding as he spun into his compatriot. Soon there was only one man standing in the hall, dressed like a giant bat.

"It's not possible," Fuyutsuki said aloud.

"Get back. Away from the door."

Fuyutsuki nodded, pressing himself against the wall opposite the cell door. A green light flashed in the darkness and there was a low whump that blew the lock inward, and the door drifted to the side. A gloved hand pushed it all the way back along its track, and Fuyutsuki found himself standing face to face with the American vigilante.

"Impossible," he breathed. "You'd have to be in your nineties."

"Let's go."

/\../\

Misato jumped when the phone rang. Lying beside her on the bed, curled into the fetal position, Asuka didn't react, and she didn't know what to make of it. She checked the number, cursed herself for holding onto the phone –the damn thing had a tracking device on it- and tapped the side when she saw the number was blocked. It shouldn't have been possible to block a NERV phone. Furtively, she pressed the 'send' button and held the handset up to her ear.

"Katsuragi."

"Captain Katsuragi," a breathy, elderly sounding voice replied.

"Uhh…."

" I need you to pass on a message to Kaji when he returns."

"Go… go ahead."

"Tell him 'thorn wishes talon'." He will understand."

The line went dead.

/\../\

Maya jumped when a Section 2 agent, a burly man in a suit and sunglasses, half ran onto the bridge. He stopped near Commander Ikari's station, and then trotted further down, where the man now stood, hands clasped behind his back, those orange glasses of his glinting.

"Sir, we-"

"The pilots,"

"Ayanami and Makinami have disappeared, sir. Fuyutsuki has…"

"Consider your next words carefully."

"They're fleeing in a… vehicle, sir,"

Gendo regarded him with a faint turn of his head. "What do you mean, _a vehicle?" _

"It's a black… tank."

/\../\

The last time Fuyutsuki had ridden a rollercoaster, he had been about forty-five, well before Second Impact. He'd regretted the decision as soon as the restraints clacked into place around his chest. Only the grin on Yui's face as she watched the cars begin to move made it worth it. Then, as he did now, he closed his eyes and attempted to concentrate on the sensation of movement around him, trying not to permit himself the understanding of what was happening and the resultant increased risk of heart attack that followed with it.

One of the two children seated behind him was handling the situation amiably. Crushed into a seat that looked like something out of a fighter plane or a race car, Rei Ayanami stared out the small, gold-frosted window next to her head with a sort of serene indifference. Mari, on the other hand, was clutching into the seat in front of her for dear life, a flat look of terror on her face, too frightened even for her normal inane banter.

Fuyutsuki understood her completely. The man beside him was driving like a maniac, this being only compounded by the fact that they rode in an enormous vehicle something like a cross between an enormous four wheeler, a Humvee, a Ferrari and some kind of tank. As he worked the pedals the machine emitted a throaty roar, half sounding like some kind of animal.

"Toji and Hikari" Mari half shrieked over the din of the engines, "We can't leave them! You have to turn back!"

"No time," The Batman replied, "No room. We'll get them out. Ikari doesn't care about them. They're not part of his Scenario."

"Sub-commander," Mari pleaded, "What's he talking about? Do something!"

"Hold on," the Batman grimaced, putting his hand on the throttle beside him.

They were approaching the escalators that would carry them out of the Geofront, and they were going very fast. Fuyutsuki gripped the restraining harness he wore tightly and forced his eyes opened, leaning his head down as if he were about to ram the escalators himself. The Batman pressed a button on the side of the throttle and there was a low, angry whine that built up in the engines behind them followed by a heavy, reverberating _whump_ that shoved the machine forward even harder. Its lighter front end lifted and the whole mass jumped, coming down hard on the top of the escalators. The massive rear tires bit for purchase, throwing up chunks of revolving metal staircase and plastic. A security guard stared in naked shock as the machine tore past, leaving deep ruts in the polished linoleum floor before crashing through the doors and out onto the street.

"This is a tad conspicuous," Fuyutsuki deadpanned, or tried to deadpan. It was more of a hoarse shout.

"I know."

"You were more… subtle in the old days, weren't you?"

The Batman chanced a glance at him, then grabbed his cowl and yanked it free in a single motion, tossing it on Fuyutsuki's lap.

"Fuck subtle," Kaji replied grimly.

/\../\

Misato heard the sound of the massive black vehicle pulling in under the house and rose, shakily pulling Asuka to her feet. The girl sort of stared through her, not falling over but not really holding herself up either. Misato guided her down into the basement, through the hidden door, and to the machine, which emitted a low whine as it powered down. Tall and angular, it dwarfed everything around it. The top section of the vehicle jerked, lifted on hydraulic arms, and lifted open, revealing a now unmasked Kaji seated next to Fuyutsuki, Rei and Mari crammed in behind them in tiny jump seats. Kaji dismounted in a smooth motion, then turned to help the others. Fuytsuki shakily slipped over the side and landed hard on his feet with a grunt, the mask held in his left hand.

"What about Shinji?" Asuka said weakly.

Kaji froze. Misato's jaw dropped. She hadn't seen the kind of emotion on his face in years. He crossed the distance to Asuka faster than Misato would have believed, pulling her by the shoulders into a hug. Tears glistened on his face.

"It's been six hours," Kaji whispered, "I don't think he's coming back."

Asuka strangled a sob, turning it into an angry gurgle in the back of her throat. "He'll come back," she insisted, "he's going to come back."

"Asuka…" Kaji trailed off, shaking himself. "I hate doing this to you, I hate it. You have to accept it. He was hit with a dozen N2 mines. Nothing could survive that."

"Yes he can," she snarled, pushing him away angrily.

"Kaji," Misato said, "You… you got a phone call."

"I what?" Kaji said, running a glove hand through his hair. "On what phone?"

"Mine."

"Misato, I shouldn't have had to tell you to get rid of it. We've been compromised. We have to leave, now. Who was it? What did they say?"

"He said to tell you 'thorn wishes talon'. He said you'd know what it means."

Kaji's eyes widened in a look of genuine shock. "It can't be."

He turned to the vehicle behind him, flipped up a control panel near the steering yoke, and typed in a long PIN. There was a buzzing sound from a speaker mounted near the yoke, and a tinny, computerized voice demanded, "Please enter confirmation code."

"Red wing," Kaji said in a clear, clipped tone.

"Please continue, Red Wing. Enter command."

"Thorn wishes talon," Kaji repeated.

There was silence for a moment, then a harsh, old man's voice. "Ryoji."

Kaji sighed deeply. "Bruce. Where the hell are you?"

"You're supposed to call me 'Tall Shadow'."

Kaji punched the side of the car and winced, grasping at his hand. "Damn it, Bruce, I'm not in the mood. Where are you?"

"The Island. I'm sending you a resource. The landing strip outside Matsushiro. You have an hour. Rig the self-destruct on the car before you go, it should take care of the rest."

Nodding, Kaji pushed a sequence of buttons on the same control panel, and the top part of the vehicle slid closed, leaving him just enough time to pull his arm free. He sighed, and turned to the rest of them.

"We've got to go," he announced. "This thing has a compact N2 reactor in it that will go critical in about ninety minutes, and we have less than an hour to get to Hakone."

"Why?" Misato demanded. "Who was that? What the hell is going on?"

"We're going to catch an invisible jet," Kaji said, as if that would explain anything.

/\../\

"Kaji, this isn't funny," Misato announced as Kaji made the turn through an old gate in the mountains, smoothly working the wheel of the black sedan in which they rode, far more comfortably than if they'd taken… that… tank thing. Misato hugged Asuka, who had grown quiet again, tears glistening on her cheeks. Mari sat opposite them, brooding in silence. Rei simply stared straight ahead, not commenting on the completely empty concrete landing strip in front of them. That is, until from apparently empty space a door opened, creating the disorienting impression that the side of an invisible tube had just opened, revealing a rather plush private jet interior. Even Rei gasped.

"I told you," Kaji said without his usual mirth, "let's go."

Silently, Fuyutsuki opened the door for Misato and took Asuka's other arm, helping her up the stairs. The effect was less disorienting once they were inside, seated in what appeared to be a quiet ordinary Cessna. After making sure the children were strapped in, the adults sat down. Kaji undid his cape and laid it over Asuka like a blanket, then sat down, paying the cowl in his hand without looking at it. The seat belt sign clicked on and the jet began to move, the engines utterly silent.

"Do I want to know who's flying this thing?" Misato asked, crossing her arms.

"You'll see," Kaji sighed, slumping in his seat. "This shouldn't take long."

"Where the hell are we going?"

"An island, south of Greece."

"What," Misato snapped, "what now? The lost island of Atlantis?"

Kaji let out a long breath. "No. Atlantis didn't survive the Second Impact."

/\../\

Gendo Ikari sat in darkness, his face half-hidden behind his steepled fingers. He was surrounded by twelve massive black monoliths. They weren't really there, of course, being holographic projections. He leaned back in his chair and adjusted his glasses, huffing in mild annoyance. He had work to do, and these fools were distracting him.

"Ikari, this is absolutely unacceptable."

"We will make due," he replied bladly. "The Dummy System is operational."

"Should it fail," another voice replied, "we will be _defenseless_. The Scenario is in ruins. We have made a grave mistake in treating you as a peer, Ikari."

Gendo smirked, pointedly allowing himself the open display of emotion. "The next two will not trouble us. It is written. They will be dealt with. We hold all the pieces. All that remains now is to wait while the scenario will play itself out."

Silence reigned for a moment that stretched on into several minutes.

"All of you get out," the monolith directly ahead of Ikari intoned. When the others had faded out, the flat black shape vanished, replaced by the withered, wheezing holographic form of Lorenz Keel.

"Ikari," the old man said in his robotic drawl, "You play a most dangerous game."

"Our victory is written, Keel. You should not doubt me so. Have you no faith?"

Keel jerked in his chair, servos whirring to keep himself upright. "I am sending you Nagisa. I trust you will be able to handle him when the time comes. His conditioning is secure, but the power he wields is… dangerous. Unpredictable."

"He will be dealt with. No farcical confrontation will be required. Until that time, he will serve if the Dummy System fails."

"What of Ayanami?"

"She can be replaced," Gendo leaned back in his chair. "I am already making the requisite preparations."

"How will you activate the body? The soul is still active."

"I have another in mind," Gendo smirked.

/\../\

"I would appreciate it very much," Misato said, "If someone would tell me just what the _hell_ is going on."

Kaji let out a deep, rattling sigh. "I don't even know where to start."

"I do," Fuyutsuki said softly. "May I?"

Kaji nodded, leaning his head back, his eyes lidded.

"What happened sixteen years ago wasn't the beginning," Fuyutsuki said, half looking out the window. "Yui, that's Shinji's mother, Gendo and I became wrapped up in all this. Her father had affiliations with something called the Human Instrumentality Committee. Their ostensible purpose is to advance human evolution, but their true nature is sinister. When Adam, the first Angel, was discovered in Antarctica, Misato's father led an expedition to extract material from it. We built a base camp there, and began the work that would lead to the development of the Evangelions."

"About nine months before the Contact Experiment, a rocket came down in America. Yui, Gendo, and I traveled there, where I met Asuka's mother, who was working at the American branch at the time."

He looked at Asuka as if he expected her to stir. She didn't.

"Yui was the one who activated the rocket. It spoke to her, offered her something. She and Gendo had been trying to conceive a child and they were having difficulty. She came to me a month later and told me she was pregnant, that the child wasn't his. Somehow, the computer system in the rocket artificially inseminated her. She'd consented to it, but after the fact she felt guilty. Shinji was born nine months later, right around the time of Second Impact."

"We thought he was an ordinary child at first. He showed no signs of extraordinary abilities. Yui and Gendo simply raised him as their own. He was none the wiser. Work on the project continued. Yui was 'volunteered' to be the first Evangelion test pilot, of Unit-01. It… absorbed her. Drew her being into itself. It is difficult to explain succinctly, but one moment she was in the test plug, the next there was nothing but the contact suit and a helmet, floating empty. I still remember the scream."

Asuka sat up. "Wait, you're saying the Eva _ate_ her? Unit-01? The one I've been piloting? She was… she was in there with me?"

"We were never sure. The system was temperamental, unstable, but nothing that couldn't be explained. Until the volcano. When Unit-01 moved on its own to pull you out of the volcano, we knew. Only Akagi, Gendo and myself discussed the matter, but it was clear. Yui is alive somehow, and in the Evangelion."

"What…" Asuka said softly, closing her eyes to gather herself, clenching her tiny fists on the armrests, "What happened to Momma?"

"The same thing," Fuyutsuki said softly, "or rather, a variation from it. Rather than swallowing her whole, Unit-02 took a bite of her. The safety systems shielded her from being totally absorbed. Instead, it only took in part of her mind, leaving a confused shell behind. That's why…"

"Stop," Asuka bit back a sob, "I know. Don't say it."

Fuyutsuki nodded apologetically. "At least you weren't there for it, like Shinji was," he said sadly. "It was unpleasant. She killed six men before they forced her into the plug. I wasn't there, thankfully, but I saw the footage later. She broke one man's back, killed another by crushing his neck with a clipboard."

The old man went silent as everyone in the cabin stared at him.

"That's how the synch works, isn't it?" Misato said finally. "It has something to do with the mind already in the Evangelion."

"We think so," Fuyutsuki nodded. "The system is complex."

"Why can't it synch with Shinji, then? How did Unit-01 synch with Asuka?"

"Remember, Shinji isn't human, he's a hybrid. The Evangelions share a fundamental link with humanity on the genetic level. Whatever the Angels are, they're related to us. From what Yui told me, Shinji's other half came from the other side of the _galaxy_. I'm not sure how it's even possible. As for Asuka… Yui likes you."

Asuka stifled a sound that was half laugh, half sob. "It figures."

"What am I?"

Everyone's head snapped around to stare at Rei, who had so far remained silent. The girl demanded again in her soft voice, "What am I, professor?"

Fuyutsuki took a deep breath. "You are a cloned being created from genetic material recovered from Yui's contact, material from the second angel, Lilith, and genetic material taken from the biological supercomputer that carried Shinji's genetic material to Earth. In a way, you are his half-sister, or more appropriately, his aunt. The distinction is a little odd."

Rei nodded sagely and closed her eyes, apparently in an attempt to sleep.

"Kaji," Misato kicked his leg with her foot. "You haven't said anything."

"I have to let Bruce explain it," he said without looking forward. "Things have changed so much. There's much, much more to Second Impact than even SEELE understands. A conspiracy within the conspiracy."

"You're not making any sense."

He looked at her gravely. "There was a war, and the wrong side won."


	16. Ruins

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

16- Ruins

Asuka's eyes snapped open and she blinked fatigue away from her eyes, shocked to realize she had actually been asleep. She wasn't the only one. Everyone in the plane had, in fact, fallen into a deep slumber, and she alone was awake, jarred from her rest by the sudden lean as the craft began to bank. She looked out the window and gasped at what she saw.

The ocean was a brilliant, pearly blue, the waves rippling across the surface like etchings in a blue mirror. They were circling an island, small but steadily growing in size as the final approach began. It was large, round, and dominated by a central plateau, the highest point of which was dominated by a massive Greek temple that reminded her of pictures of the Parthenon she'd seen in her history classes, except where the old Athenian structure was in ruins and bare stone this building was complete and covered in a violent profusion of bright pastels and paints.

Something bad had happened here. The lower part of the island, leeward to the great temple, had been scoured away, nearly half it surface covered with scrub and trees and broken buildings- the ugly scar of a tsunami, no doubt, that had struck the island during Second Impact, the new growth a sign of nature's reclamation of the island.

Around her, the others began to stir. Kaji woke first and stared out his own window grimly, his jaw set. The others followed, and in a few minutes all of them were staring out the windows in silence, except for Fuyutsuki, who though awake looked desperately tired, sunken, and old, his eyes focused intently on nothing. The lights in the cabin dimmed and the island rolled away under the plane's fuselage, followed by the lurch as it began to point its nose skyward and descend. Asuka turned from the window and gripped the arms of her seat a little harder than she would have liked. Unbidden, the memory of her last landing rose to the surface of her mind and she bit her lip, trying to look as if it was the landing that was disturbing her.

All in all, it was a gentle affair. The pilot must have been an expert. The craft taxied to a stop and sat for a moment before the seat belt lights went out and with a mechanical whirr the door swung downwards, unfolding into a staircase. Blue sky, unmarked by clouds, beckoned beyond. Fresh air flowed in, warm and a little moist and smelling of salt and the sea, with a tiny tinge of rot beneath that bothered her a little, though she couldn't say why.

Slowly, Kaji rose and stepped out onto the stair, ducking through the door. He stood stone still for a moment, then waved for the others to follow. Asuka slowly undid her seat belt and rose, a little shaky, and waved off Misato's attempt to steady her with her good arm. She followed the others onto the little landing strip among the trees and understood why the others had gasped when they stepped outside, except, of course, Rei, who took it all in with the same stoic gaze she always maintained.

Before her stood an Amazonian royal guard. Literally. Two women, one vaguely Greek, the other vaguely African, dressed in hoplite scale armor, massive crested helmets, and perfectly, impossible clean white togas with spears in their hands and heavy bronze shields strapped to their arms. Their armor, their gear, all of was perfectly, heavily real, well cared for but obviously ancient and authentic at the same time. Between them stood a living goddess, perfect as if she had been carved of marble, standing well over six feet tall in bare feet, clad in a white gown. She regarded Asuka with piercing, inquisitive almond-shaped eyes. Her hair trailed nearly to her feet, jet black so dark it was almost blue streaked with fine threads of gray. No age touched her face, but she was not young. A thin, barely perceptible scar traced down the left side of her face, as if someone had tried to cut out her eye and not struck deeply enough.

She spoke to the group as one, her gaze resting on each in turn. "Welcome to Themyscira. I am Diana, Queen of the Amazons."

"The what of the what?" Misato said, incredulous. Kaji elbowed her and she winced.

The woman –Diana- stiffened slightly, her expression betraying her mirth, and then settled again into a regal slouch, radiating queenly grace. "I forgive your ignorance. Ever since the Great Disaster, we have sequestered ourselves from Man's World even further than before."

"I thought no man was allowed to set foot here," Kaji said amiably.

"Since your predecessor arrived, we have relaxed that rule," Diana replied, eyeing him up and down. She had a good four inches of height on him, even his heavy boots. "He had the good sense to wear a mask."

"I left it in the car," Kaji deadpanned.

"The ancient laws of hospitality demand I offer you all that we have to offer. I can see that you are all weary from travel and hungry for both food and answers. My attendants will see to your needs, and then we will convene in the Great Hall. If you will excuse me."

She turned, flanked by her guards, and sashayed away with a bearing that was simultaneously regal and martial. She shot Asuka a glance over her shoulder that made something in her stomach quiver, as if she was being weighed and measured.

Moments later, younger, slighter girls appeared, taking each of the travelers by the arm. The young lady that came to Asuka was slightly shorter than she was, with honey blonde hair and a slightly ditzy expression. She smiled broadly at Asuka and began to lead her by the arm.

"Hi! I'm Io."

"Uh, hi Io," Asuka replied, her mind a little fuzzy. She spoke three languages, and she wasn't even sure which one was coming out her lips.

She couldn't help but stare at the scenery as the girl walked her down a path paved with intricately fitted marble stones, each perfectly smooth and somehow soft, almost like carpeting. The airstrip was the least interesting part of the island, by far. They'd landed on a hilltop, and spread out beneath it was the island itself, a placid knot of greenery in the center of a vast, sparkling blue sea that shone like a jewel.

Yet, what she saw from the plane window proved true. For every beautiful sight there were ten broken, twisted ruins. Large sections of the island had been scoured clean or cratered, the strange rents in the Earth now grown over with grass and immature trees, marked here and there with the cracked remains of foundations, jutting from the earth like broken teeth. She could see further down the island where the greenery had not even grown back yet, leaving bare patches of black earth dotted here and there with sickly leaves of grass.

"What happened here?"

"The Great Disaster," Io said, her voice a little shaky. "Waves and wind, and then others came, men from Outside." She shuddered. "To teach us the price for interfering in Man's World."

Asuka eyed the girl a little warily.

Io guided Asuka, along with the Mari, Rei, and Misato and their guides to a low structure that was isolated from the rest of the island by a thick ring of trees. Steam and fragrant smells of soap wafted out. Asuka took a deep breath and felt a sudden shiver run through her body that didn't fade even as Io helped her remove her plugsuit and step down into a steaming hot bath. When she'd finally cleansed her hair of the LCL, she was brought a white dress like Io wore, that fit her so well it was if it had been made for her. When she saw Misato dressed in one of her own, she felt a pang of jealousy.

They gathered outside the baths on the path to the enormous building, the Great Hall. Kaji stared openly at Misato, and Asuka found herself staring at him. He wore some kind of toga, and _damn_ but he was buff. She stifled a sob as she pushed the thought down. Shinji was coming back. She knew it. He wouldn't leave her. He promised. He promised, and he was Superman. He could do anything.

Fuyutsuki coughed, holding a fist to his mouth. In this alien garb he resembled a Roman senator, and somehow gained a regal bearing despite the oddness of his dress. Rei stood like a statue, observing the others, while Mari swished her skirts back and forth like a child playing with her mother's clothes. Io, the girl that had led Asuka down the mountain, coughed and directed them up to the hall where Diana waited for them.

The Queen of the Amazons led the way to a low stone chamber that was darkened, lit only by candles. In the center of the room, under a soft purple light, an ancient man lay abed, swaddled in white silks. His chest rose and fell in soft rhythm, and he looked on the verge of death. Asuka glanced at Diana and saw the longing in her face when she looked at him, a deep sadness that mirrored her own, and looked away quickly.

"We don't have long," the Queen said softly. "Only our Purple Ray keeps him alive. Without it he will have hours, minutes, if that."

"How long has he been here?" Kaji asked softly, drawing nearer.

"Five years. After he left you in Berlin, I brought him here myself. He refused at first, the stubborn old fool."

"The stubborn old fool can hear you," the old man said with stunning clarity. Asuka shuddered when she heard it.

The man that led abed under the odd purple light was drawn and spare, but the sheer size of his emaciated frame suggested he once matched Diana in height, and he had the odd folds and leathery texture in the skin of his exposed torso that suggested he'd once packed a hefty amount of lean, functional muscle, like the body of a retired boxer or swimmer. Beneath thin wisps of white hair his eyes were piercing and clear, dark blue, undimmed by age or injury. He breathed in ragged gasps, except when he spoke with a voice like a wind through a graveyard.

"The suit you wore," he said to Kaji, ignoring Asuka and the others. "The '96 model. A little outdated. Still better than the '89. I could barely move my head."

"I thought you were dead."

"Do I look like I've been out dancing to you? They shot me in the back, Ryoji. I suppose I'm lucky to be alive. I wondered how long it was going to take you to finally accept it and put on the cowl."

"I didn't want to," Kaji looked away grimly.

"That's why I wanted you to have it. It's all yours, all of it. Diana has maps of the caves, my case files, everything. _There must be a Batman."_

Kaji nodded. "I understand."

"No, you don't," the old man snapped. "You never understood."

"Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?" Misato snapped.

""Shut up and listen," the old man said. "I have a story to tell you. It begins with September 13, 1999,"

"Second Impact," Misato interrupted.

The old man glared at her. "The day evil won. It was our fault, our generation, we failed to stop it. We never realized how serious they were. There were games back and forth but somehow we never believed they would really do it. The enemy was organized. They had money, power, influence."

Diana actually shuffled on her feet, looking away.

"You mean SEELE."

"SEELE is a front, a cover. SEELE controls NERV and the United Nations, but who controls SEELE? Immortals. Broken down old gods. Mad geniuses. Wizards. Men who can change their shape, who can control shadows, who can control other's minds. Organized, ruthless, and efficient. We didn't understand what we were facing until it was too late to stop them."

"We?" Misato said, "who is we?"

"Me. Diana. A few others. They came and went through the years. We'd form a group to face this or that crisis, then break up, drift apart over petty squabbles. By the time I was an old man there were fewer and fewer of us as the old guard died or retired or were murdered by the enemy. After the Watchtower went down in '82, we were all but done. Even at the height of our abilities, we were boxing at shadows. One secret group goes down, ten more pop up in its place. Get the book."

Diana left for a moment and then returned with a heavy leatherbound journal in her hands. She presented it to Kaji almost reverently.

"So much information, so much data," the old man wheezed now, visibly tired from speaking. "This is the best I could do to turn it into a narrative, sort the wheat from the chaff. Incomplete at best. The work you and I did in Germany is here."

Asuka felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come with me," Diana whispered.

The Queen led her to the Great Hall itself. Large enough for two Evangelions to stand abreast, the room shocked her, and for not the first time this day, she found herself gaping. The room was lined with statues of beautiful women in armor, each different, yet each the same. They bore something in common. Each statue had a lasso at her waist, elegantly and perfectly carved in marble, so clean and perfectly formed that it looked as if they would bend like real rope if she touched them. Standing at the hall was a pair of bracelets, no, arm bracers, a tiara, and a golden lasso that gleamed and shone with its own inner light. The ensemble rested on a folded costume of red, blue, and gleaming cloth of gold atop a carven pillar. Asuka stared at them in silence beside the Queen of the Amazons.

"We infiltrated NERV," the queen whispered. "One of those infiltrators was tall and long of limb, with eyes like ice and her hair aflame."

Asuka stood dumbly for a moment and then turned to the queen, her eyes wide, her mouth open in an expression of shock.

Diana looked at her gravely. "Her name in Man's World was Kyoko. She was your mother."

Asuka sank to her knees, the strength flooding out of her legs. She clutched her belly to stop herself from hyperventilating and looked up.

"You're telling me that my mother was an _Amazon?_"

"As are you, daughter of Themiscyra. Welcome home."

SSSSS

Shinji Ikari's eyes flew open and he sat up, gasping for air, but no air came. He bowled over and found himself rolling in gray dust, even his tiniest movement sending him floating off the ground. For a shocked moment he'd thought he'd forgotten how to control his fly and slammed into the ground, kicking up a bowl of dust. He watched drift straight down in the darkness, undisturbed by the wind, and had a sudden, shocking realization. He was in a vacuum.

He noticed something. For one, his suit was in tatters, barely clinging to his body. For another, there was a flag nearby, the old pre-impact American flag, held out straight by a little metal arm on a pole. Seeing it lying on the ground, he drunkenly stood, fighting to maintain his balance, and planted the flag back in the ground. He noticed a plaque nearby and cleared the dust off it, and gasped again for the missing air. The message inscribed on it sent a chill up his spine.

_ Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind. _

He stumbled, lifting several feet off the ground, as a wave of realization washed over him. There was no avoiding it. The coal black sky dotted by an impossible field of stars, the flag, the plaque, the gray, lifeless dust.

He was on the _Moon._

He looked down at himself. He was mostly intact, although everything he'd been wearing was gone. A tear slid down his cheek, caught some momentum and slid off into space, gently arcing towards the ground. Water on the Moon. The realization hit him. The blast from the N2 missiles must have blown him into space. The death throes of the Angel had hurled him all the way into lunar orbit. The warm light of the sun pricked his skin. It must have been hundreds of degrees around him, but he ignored it. He scanned the sky and fell again, utterly floored by what he saw.

He saw Earth. The whole Earth. Truly saw it, as only he could see. He saw the bottom half of the world, brutally scarred by Second Impact, the sea stained red with the Great Mother's blood. He saw bustling activity. His superhuman sight saw everything, every detail, as the eye of God records the fall of the sparrow. Every man, every woman, every living thing moving and living, leaving him enraptured. He saw more. He saw the rays, alpha and beta and gamma, scatter across the atmosphere, saw the Aurora Borealis and Australis, saw ocean currents, saw the last whales migrating with their young, the last men of the old way in the last rainforest seeking after prey.

He saw babies being born, and old men and women dying. He saw bank robberies and murders and men and women making love. Involuntarily his vision opened and he saw it all, the totality of the spectrum of electromagnetic energy, lines of electricity and magnetism criss-crossing the globe like ley lines, or glowing veins. The sight was so magnificent, so utterly beguiling that he couldn't tear away from it. It was like gazing into the eye of God.

He heard a tiny voice whisper, impossibly, _Shinji Ikari_.

He turned towards the sound of the voice, or what he perceived as the sound of the voice, and started walking towards it, gingerly at first, then more surely, compensating for the low gravity. He crossed a crater near the landing site –some part of his mind recalled, dimly, that it was called Tranquility Base- and crested a low, smooth rise of slightly darker lunar dust. What he found on the other side shocked him.

Lying against the edge of a distant crater was a structure. At some point, it had been some sort of spaceship, or perhaps a satellite, a massive array of spindly towers and a habitation ring arranged around a central cylindrical section. Now, it lay crushed to ruin against the gentle slope of the far side of the crater. He scanned it and found it mostly empty, save for the distant form of something he could barely see, something that was breathing. He started towards it.

_Shinji Ikari, _the voice called again.

He found an opening in the main ring, a rent in the metal skin of the craft. It was protected by a shimmering field of force that flickered into blue life when he touched it, but allowed him to pass unobstructed. Once inside, he felt the welcome, and cool, press of an atmosphere. Still thinner than he was used to, though, like standing on a high mountain. It didn't bother him. He walked up a diagonal hall, steadying himself with a hand on the curved wall.

The corridor opened onto what had, at some point, been a museum. Shattered display cases lay everywhere. He blinked in surprise and looked around, confused. Against one wall, leaning in a dent in the metal, was a gargantuan penny that must have taken up tons of copper, and lying against that appeared to be the remains of some sort of animatronic tyrannosaur, huge and opened mouthed and broken-toothed. He ran his hand along the cool surface, feeling the fake, rubbery scales, like pebbles. There were smaller objects, too. A pan shaped helmet adorned with a pair of wings, dented and tarnished. He held it up and looked at it, finding nothing remarkable about it, and set it aside.

He picked up a piece of debris and found two objects. One looked like some sort of old train lantern, made entirely of smooth, cool green metal with a green lens. He tried to look through it, but the material of which it was made blocked his sight. On the floor beside it was a ring that appeared to bade of perfectly cut green crystal. When he touched it, it let out a pulse of strange, eerie green light and lifted up in front of him. It pulsed twice and then zipped off, vanishing through a nearby wall. He stood in shock for a moment.

_Shinji,_ the tiny voice whispered, _please hurry._

The room had been trashed. Many of the cases were broken, and it was clear that it had been ransacked. He could see the opening in the wall, also shielded by a strange field, where the invaders had entered the structure. Beyond the museum there was some sort of conference room with a massive round table. Around it were chairs, adorned with symbols, although most had been broken off or obscured. There was a lightning bolt, a stylized bat, three stars in a triangle, some sort of lantern, like the kind locomotives once carried.

Beyond that there was a corridor, leading into the structure's central chamber. He followed.

The room was filed with the ruined remnants of computers and communications arrays and screens, dominated in the center by a spiraling workstation, a huge and shattered array of keyboards, screens, phone handsets, and other devices. Circuit boards and electronic guts lay strewn about, torn apart with clawmarks and sooty evidence of fire. Shinji sucked in a breath of thin air.

In the midst of it all was a creature.

It was twice his size at least, and what was left of it was massively muscled beneath mottled green skin that moved and twisted unnaturally, supported by unfamiliar bones and muscles. The creature took deep, ragged breaths, and Shinji suddenly felt guilty for sucking in the thin air. Fully half of its body was a ruin of old burns, still covered with soot and charred, cracked skin. It lay twisted and broken, clearly paralyzed, and gazed at him with one eye that was all red, no iris or pupil. Shinji stared, open mouthed, then moved forward.

"You're hurt," he said, his voice tinny in the thin air, "let me help you."

_I am dead_, the creature spoke in his mind, _you must hear my message, Shinji Ikari, so that I have not died in vain._

"Who… who are you?"

_My name is J'onn J'onnz. I was the Manhunter from Mars. Open your mind to me, Shinji Ikari. You must see._

"I will," he said, taking a step forward. "Show me."

_I am the last of my kind. With me, my race dies. Yours will be born anew. In passing my knowledge to you, my race will live on. The universe will know, that once, we were here._

He found himself standing, suddenly, in a huge room. Or it seemed huge, at first, until he realized that he was enormous as well. He looked down and saw three fingered hands, green of flesh, and felt a wave of realization.

_My world as it was._

He looked around the room. There were no angles, only soft, curving grey stone, or perhaps it wasn't stone at all. He was not alone. There was another of his own kind with him, smaller and more delicate and… and beautiful. He felt a wave of recognition as the other called in a language he did not understand and a small one entered the room. Shinji watched arms reach out and scoop up the young one.

_My wife. My child._

They walked outside. The world around them was lush, all strange purple and yellow hues, great stalks of some grain that swept to and fro in the wind, whispering joyfully. The sky, a pale cream color, was lit by a distant, tiny sun. The air was cool, and yet oh so welcome. Shinji felt a wave of joy ripple through his body.

_This was _Ma'aleca'andra, _the world you know as Mars. It was our home._

Then, he heard it. A keening wail, a strangely mechanical sound. He turned, and he saw it, and a wave of horror swept through him. The form bearing down on him was entirely too familiar. It was enormous, as if a great mountain had taken flight, but this was no mountain. It was a vast crystal octahedron, perfect and transparent except for the red orb at its center. The image faded from view, and he saw something else, less deep, less personal. He felt his own existence melt into a single viewpoint, a simple point of thought in space.

Before him was a burning orb, and it took him a moment to recognize it as a planet, the fourth from the distant, piercingly white sun. Something emerged from the surface, a great white sphere. With ponderous slowness it tore free from the surface, leaving a falling cone of molten rock behind it, like fish leaping from the surface of a still pond. Something in Shinji stirred.

_You came to call the scar of its passing Olympus Mons_.

He found himself in the strange room again, and he sank to his knees before the creature.

_The race you know as Angels visited destruction on my world as well. There are those among your kind who believe they can control this force. They have already attempted it._

"You mean Second Impact," Shinji guessed, staring up at the alien.

_Man believes he can master the technology of Gods. He does not see that it, in turn, masters him._

"This will happen to Earth if I don't stop it?"

_No. My world held no Seed of Life when the White Moon came among us. Yours had already been colonized by those who created the Seeds. Your fate will be worse. Death that is life._

Shinji shuddered. "I can stop it. I will stop it. Thank you."

_Wait, there is more._

"What is it?"

_There are worlds other than these, Shinji Ikari. This world is not what it once was. When mankind grew proud and drew down the wrath of Second Impact, a door was opened, and something came in. Though he cannot yet take physical form, he is among you. Beware, Shinji Ikari. You face an enemy beyond your understanding._

"How do I stop this?" he said softly, meeting the gaze of the alien. "What do I do?"

_What we could not. We were many, yet our enemies were more numerous. This place was a hall of heroes, once, but division and strife among us made us vulnerable. Our enemies recruited some, and murdered or drove underground those they could not corrupt. Now, what we meant to become a shining beacon for the future has become a tomb. I have waited since the day the hated fire took me for the time when I would look upon mankind's champion. I used the last of my strength to draw you here when the creature died._

Shinji nodded. "I'll do what I can."

_There is one more task I must ask of you, child. _

"What is it?"

_You must remember. _

Images began to flash in his mind. He saw a group of figured standing around the great round table, and the alien's sending focused his vision on each of them in turn, beginning with a short, lean man in a red jumpsuit adorned with lightning bolts, a mask drawn back from his head to reveal a mop of unkempt red hair and a boyish grin.

_Barry Allen. He was the fastest man alive. He was the Flash._

Beside the red haired man stood a tall, heavy-jawed man in a green and black bodysuit adorned with a stylized green symbol on a circular white field, wearing a small green domino mask over his eyes. He smiled brightly. A green ring glowed on his hand.

_Hal Jordan. The Last Green Lantern of Sector 2814._

Next was a beautiful woman with flowing auburn hair and, bizarrely, a pair of huge gray wings, like those of a great raptor. Beside her stood a man, similarly adorned. Both held helmets shaped like bird's heads under the arms. The woman bore a mace, while the man bore an inward curving sword.

_Shayera and Katar Hol, refugees from the world of Thanagar._

Beside the Thanagarians stood a tall, voluptuous woman in a heavy armored breastplate, gleaming silver bracers, and a gleaming tiara. At her belt hung a lasso of golden fibers, glinting in the half light.

_Diana of Themyscira, champion of the Gods._

Finally, Shinji felt a wave of cold flow through him as a pair of eyes hidden under a black cowl met his own. Shapes to give the impression of a bat, the presentation overcame the absurdity of the idea and he felt the muscular man in cape and cowl staring him down tap into some primal fear from the unconscious part of his mind.

_Bruce Wayne. The Batman. _

"What happened to them?"

_Murdered, all. Only Diana and Bruce escaped the destruction of this place. Our enemies knew, and exploited, our every weakness. The Yellow Impurity. Friction. Simple brute force. Only Diana's retreat saved both her and the Batman from death._

_That is all I ask of you, Superman. That you remember._

_"_You will be avenged," Shinji said, clenching his fists.

_No. Not vengeance. Never vengeance. _**Justice**_._

Something in the alien's eye flickered, and faded, and Shinji suddenly felt utterly, crushingly alone.


	17. Return

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 17- Return

Toji sat up in the command chair, his hands jerking from the controls. His younger self tilted his head, considering him, and he felt the odd sensation of the Evangelion's movements, outside of his control, as if someone had grabbed his arms and was swinging them around for him. He fought the urge and the Eva rumbled beneath him, struggling against itself. The brows of his double, seated on the controls before him, furrowed in concentration. He thought he heard Misato yell something, but it was indistinct, fuzzy.

"You are stronger than I expected," the child mused at him, tapping one finger to its chin. "But how strong?"

Images flashed in his mind. He was no longer in the entry plug. He was standing beneath the door of a trembling skyscraper, clutching his sister to his side. He looked up and saw Unit-01 stride forward, laying into the first Angel that had attacked the city. There was a rippling boom and the Evangelion was thrown backwards and slammed into the building across the street. It stood up again with a roar and ran out of his field of vision, and he watched with agonizing slowness as metal and concrete and glass gave way and came rumbling down on top of him. Only this time, there was something different. There was no one to catch it.

_So,_ a tiny copy of his own voice whispered, _this is what you fear._

He watched the debris tumble out of the sky towards him, and set his jaw.

"No," he shouted up at it, "this isn't real, this didn't happen."

_Yes it did_, the voice replied. _Silly lilim, it's all a dream. The young one is dead, and you lie broken abed. _

"No," he said, and forced his eyes shut.

It was almost easy. The memory bubbled to the surface of his mind with ease, and when he opened his eyes again he and Kanna were in shadow, the silhouetted figure holding the great chunk of rubble over his head as he always had, looking at them in concern, just as he really did. Toji focused on the image, closed his eyes, and opened them again, revealing the entry plug around him.

"You will not stop me," the Angel whispered in his ear, and before he could stop it reached out.

The black hands of Unit-03 shot out, grabbed the utilitarian structure occupied by Ritsuko, Misato and a dozen research technicians, and crumpled it in its hands. Toji yelped and reached out with both of his own, as if he were forcing the Eva's hands back. He grunted, fought for control, and could feel the Eva's arms, forced to move against his will by something he couldn't quite see. He forced it to push the ruined structure to the ground, where it came to rest. Misato was out cold, blood dribbling from a wound on her forhead, he arm broken above her wrist. Doctor Akagi lay unconscious near her, the scientist's leg twisted at impossible angles, her flesh bulging with broken bone.

Toji snarled in fury and forced the Eva to take a step back, then begin climbing out of the massive chamber. It rolled the hillside and came to its feet and he felt the Angel draw up inside of it, grabbing its arms and legs away from him. It began to walk, walk towards Tokyo-3. He fought hard, but it was like swimming against an ocean wave, and his control kept rolling back. He looked around and realized the Eva's head was moving around with him, and inspiration struck him.

He let go. He released the Eva completely; let the Angel drive it forward with greater speed, dropping the umbilical cable with a rapid series of thumps. He could hear and feel it laughing at him, the spectral boy sitting on the control's head thrown back in wild mirth. It was mocking him. Something in him wanted to join it. The Angel had made a simple assumption, the same one everyone made when they thought of Toji Suzahara, even his friends. They thought he was a jock. They thought he was all muscle. They didn't think he had a brain, but he did. A great big one.

He focused all of his mental effort on the Eva's head. The Angel was confused, but didn't fight him, since he wasn't slowing it down, and the eyes of the figure seated before him went wide as Toji threw back Unit-03's head and opened its jaws, splitting the metallic restraints that held them in place. He didn't even know _how_ he was doing it, only that the Evangelion's jaws split open wide and in some terrible, thrumming approximation of human speech cried, _**"SUPERMAN!**_**"**

Before him the ghostly form of his younger self rocked back, as if physically struck. The sound reverberated through the valley, bouncing through the buildings. The force of it shattered the glass in closest buildings in Matsushiro, sent parked cars rocking on their springs. He locked his gaze on the Angel's own, stared into it.

"Let's see what _you_ fear, asshole."

He jumped and thrust his hand into the air, slamming his fist into the roof of the plug as he saw Superman dive in low, just over the rooftops. Something in him was a little surprised how fast he came, but that part of him was very small. Unit-03 moved around him, and he saw the black hand reach out, meaning to crush Superman in its grip. Toji laughed at it, the idea was so absurd. The Angel glared at him.

"He will die. I will defeat him. It is written."

"Nah," Toji shot back, "he's going to kick your ass."

The Angel smiled, and the battle began. It batted Superman away with a black fist, sending him hard into the ground below. Not missing a beat, he got back up and came back at it, looking for the plug. He was going to get Toji out.

"He can't save you," the Angel chided him.

"Your ass he can't," Toji crossed his arms.

Toji's confidence was a little shaken when the Eva stomped on him. The Angel grinned maniacally at him, and Unit-03's head moved around, now out of his control. Some sort of weird blue lichen was working its way into the plug, burning through the walls. The Angel ignored Superman for a moment, focusing instead on the three figures approaching from beyond the city.

The other three Evas.

A wave of fear flashed through Toji, and the Angel flowed with it, reaching into his mind. The shock of it tore him away from the Eva and he forgot the plug for a moment, instead trapped in the past. Images flooded his mind, the pilots. He saw them all the day he'd followed Shinji to Misato's apartment, when they'd laughed and danced together. The Angel was there with him, a silent observer in his mind. It focused, flicked through the images until it found what it was looking for. Asuka in the kitchen with Shinji. Asuka dancing with Shinji. The two looking at each other after the dance ended, panting.

Toji shook, startled. He should have seen it before.

"That's not all, is it," the Angel whispered to him.

More images. The weird day they were in the Laundromat and Shinji ran off, hearing something he and Kensuke didn't. Standing on the deck of the Truman, the wind whipping in his hair, Misato looking this way and that, asking "Where's Shinji?" as Superman vanished, somehow melting away as if he had to be observed to continue existing, Shinji just popping up out of thin air a moment later. The Angel clicked and clacked in his mind, as if it were tearing memories out of his head and putting them together like puzzle pieces.

The Angel focused its attention on Unit-01. Toji felt a weird sensation as it accessed the mechanical parts of the Evangelion, the computer system and the radios and all of the gears and whirring servos around him, and listened in on Asuka's voice, ringing clear as she gave direction to the others, gave them orders. The Angel grinned at him in understanding.

"The one that rides the mother's shadow," it whispered to him. "dies first."

Everything was a blur. The Angel took Rei and Mari out with simple, contemptuous ease. The sound of Rei screaming as she felt her arm severed stung his ears. He felt Unit-03 toss Superman aside again, pin Unit-01 down. He heard Asuka's gurgling refusal to kill him.

"No!" he screamed futilely, "It doesn't matter! You have to stop it!"

She couldn't hear him. The Angel closed Unit-03's hands around her throat. He heard gurgles as she tried to talk through the choking force around her throat in the plug, so far away. He ground his teeth and reached for the Eva as he did before, felt the grip become partially his again, slacken. The Angel sitting in front of him tilted its head to one side, quizzically, like a dog. It looked him for a moment.

"That won't do," it said.

Pain. Pain lanced through his arm, and he watched in horror, his eyes widenening, as the flesh of his forearm just unfolded, tore apart with a wet ripping sound and flowered away from the bone. It was so hot it was cold, burning him horribly, and it threw him back in the seat. His screams bubbled the orange slime around his face, and he heard Asuka scream again and forced his eyes open.

He tried to say _no_, but the words turned into a gurgling wail of pain as they left his lips. Instead he struggled against the Eva again, and for his trouble, the Angel took his leg, just as it did his arm. The plugsuit blew apart, shreds of it floating in the LCL around him. The muscle of his calf opened up in a bloom of blood, peeling back from the bones. His consciousness swam, blackness swirling up from the back of his head to grab him.

He heard Asuka screaming, begging. Begging for it to stop.

He gurgled something unintelligible.

"Be silent," the Angel snapped.

Then, his eyes opened again. Pain lanced through his whole head and he realized that both eyelids were swollen shut, but he pushed them open anyway. His throat burned, and he felt like someone was choking him. His arm and leg were gone, their presence, so normal he never even really thought about it before, replaced with an icy void of pure agony. He shuddered in the bed and saw Hikari's face close to his, her cheeks stained with tears. He heard beeping. Hospital.

Three suits walked into the room. They looked around, and one of them grabbed HIkari by the arm and pulled him back. He looked her up and down and shook her again. "Hikari Horaki?"

She nodded, confused. "I didn't do anything, I-"

"You're coming with us," the suit holding her arm said, dragging her away.

"Get off of her!" his little sister snapped, jumping at the man's leg. One of the other agents roughly pulled her off and shoved her into a chair, and she started to cry.

Toji jerked. The third agent locked eyes on him. "What about the kid?"

"You heard the Commander," the agent holding Hikari shrugged.

The one facing him pulled a gun.

"_Help!"_ Hikari wailed, kicking at the agent that now held her under her arms and was dragging her out of the room. "_Somebody help us!" _

Toji had forced both of his eyes open now. He croaked something around the tubes in his throat, coughing as his gag reflex kicked in. His throat burned. His chest was a map of pain as he slowly, shakily raised his left hand, for all the good it would do. The agent pointing the gun at him faltered, and half turned. Every head in the room traced the movement of a small, green object as it flew in through the door, just under the upper sill, and circled around Toji's bed. He found his own eyes tracing it.

It came to a stop over the bed, and he had a sudden, tingling realization that it was watching him, weighing him. Everything seemed to come to a stop all at once. A green light, like the focused beam of a flashlight, swept over his body, then tightened and focused on a spot just over his eyes. The machines next to him beeped furiously. He was able to focus his eyes a little more.

It was a ring. A green ring.

A voice boomed in the room, rattled the windows, made all of the machines around him go crazy. The lights dimmed and flickered.

**TOJI SUZAHARA OF EARTH. YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO OVERCOME GREAT FEAR.**

The ring flitted like a hummingbird down to his left hand, slid under the hospital sheets, and gently fitted itself onto the middle finger of his left hand, where it fit flawlessly.

**WELCOME TO THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS.**

There was an incredible sound, somewhere between the roar of an engine, an old hairdryer being turned all the way up, and the thrum of an electrical transformer. He sat bolt upright in the bed, yanking wires and intravenous lines out of his body, and gasped a ragged breath as he felt the bones in his chest moving inside him, locking back into place. He reached up, instinctively with his right hand, and…

…and there was a hand. It was a perfect simulacrum of the limb it'd replaced, made of layers of green light of varying intensity and hue, complete with bones and ligaments and veins and a layer of translucent emerald skin. He stared at it for a moment, and then with a gagging retch yanked the breathing and feeding tube out of his throat, ignoring the burning in his throat as he did. The tubes landed on the bed like gory snakes as he stood up. A new leg, like his hand, had replaced his missing limb.

The agent with the gun shot him. He raised his left hand on pure instinct and a shimmering plane of green light interposed itself between them. The bullet hit in a concentric circle of green waves, stopped, and plunked onto the bed.

"Holy shit," Toji croaked.

_Think it. It will happen._

He made a motion with his left hand and a green flash batted the gun out of the agent's hand. A flicker of intention made the ring send out a tiny burst of light that sent the man off his feet and into the wall, where he slumped against the floor, unconscious. The other two men stared at him, open mouthed, then abruptly released Hikari and ran, their neatly polished shoes squeaking on the hospital floor.

"T-Toji?" Hikari said softly. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," he looked down at the ring, "but it's _awesome."_

"We gotta get out of here."

He nodded, pointed his fist at the nearby wall, and with a surprisingly light effort of thought blasted the windows and wall out in a neat, eight foot circle, exposing blue sky and the chirping of birds outside.

"Come on," he said, offering his hand to Hikari.

"Toji, we're on the fourth floor."

"I don't think that's going to matter. Come on, Kanna."

"You have a magic ring!" his sister said, her face still wet with tears. "Cool!"

He smiled and scooped her up. "Uh," he said, "What do I do?"

_Your ring will create whatever you imagine, Lantern. New bearers generally begin with simple constructs. May I suggest a sphere?_

He considered that for a moment, and a circle of green light appeared at his feet, encircling them, then rose upwards, growing into a sphere. At a thought, it lifted up, picking all three of them up off the ground.

"Okay," he said, "I think I got this. Where should, we, um, go?"

Hikari looked around. "I don't know. We should find Captain Katsuragi. She'll know what's going on, right?"

"Okay," he said, as the sphere began to move, a bit unsteadily at first. "Let's try her apartment."

|O|

Shinji lighted on the veranda of the apartment, and all things considered, didn't feel that bad about twisting the lock on the sliding doors out of the frame to get inside. He tossed the piece of metal aside with a thunk and went inside. A quick look around revealed no bombs or listening devices or inexplicable lead boxes, which was something of a relief. As he stepped into the darkened living room, Pen-Pen waddled into the room and stared at him longingly.

"Wark!"

"Oh," Shinji said absently. "I bet nobody's fed you. Come on, I'll get you some food."

He padded on bare feet into the kitchen, only to discover the table piled high with empty beer cans. He turned around and eyed the penguin warily.

"You… bought beer."

"Wark!"

"But you can't work a can opener?"

"Wark!"

With a sigh, he picked up a can of fish filets, looked around for the can opener, felt a bit silly, and peeled the lid off with his fingers, then dumped it onto a plate. The penguin took to it hungrily, picking up each slice and throwing his head back to let it slide down his gullet. Shinji suppressed a smirk. The penguin's greatest virtue was his simplicity, it seemed.

He looked around the apartment. Everything had been left as it was the morning that he and Asuka had gone to school before the incident. She'd been in a hurry that morning, and a half-eaten piece of toast still rested on her plate on the table. He ran his fingers along the edge and sighed. He headed to the bathroom, took a quick shower to clean the grime from the fights and explosions from himself, and was buttoning his school uniform shirt when he heard the door buzzer.

Standing at the threshold were Hikari, Toji's sister, and just behind them, Toji himself, still dressed in a hospital gown. The foursome sort of stood there for a moment, staring silently. Shinji's eyes widened when he saw Toji's arm and leg and the gleaming ring on his finger.

"Uh," he said, "come in?"

He stepped back and allowed them entry.

"Toji?" he said quietly.

"Hi, Shinji," the boy put a hand on his shoulder. "Hikari told me what happened. Look, man, it wasn't your fault. Getting into the Eva was my choice."

Shinji looked away. "If I'd just been faster…"

Toji shook his head. "You did everything you could. Trust me."

"Shinji?" Hikari said softly. "I-I'm sorry about the things I said to you. I… I can't handle this. Everything is so _crazy._ I don't understand anything that's going on."

Shinji stilled himself. "It's alright. I know why you were upset. Have you heard from your family?"

She shook her head. "I was in the hospital when everyone went to the shelters."

He sighed. "From the looks of things, the evacuation hasn't been called off yet. I didn't see anyone outside. Do you know what shelter they'd be in?"

"My sisters were probably in school. My dad might be at NERV. I don't know."

"We can try calling them," Toji said helpfully, reaching for the phone.

"No," Shinji blurted out, taking his wrist. "Not here. These lines are probably tapped."

"Hell, man," Toji said, "Kensuke says every line in the city is tapped."

Shinji let out a long, ragged sigh. "I don't know what to do."

Toji blinked at him in surprise. "Well, we can't leave Hikari by herself. The NERV goons want her for something." He turned to her. "Maybe your sisters will be better off if we don't get in touch with them. If they know you haven't talked to them, they'll leave them alone. Right?"

Shinji looked away.

Hikari nodded. "So what do we do? Where do we go?"

Shinji looked out over the veranda, absently. "Asuka. The others. I have to take care of my friends. I got everyone into this."

Hikari piped up. "Do you know where they are?"

He shook his head. "I hoped I'd find some sort of note here or something, but they're just gone. They're not anwywhere around here."

"How do you know?"

He blushed a little. "I… I know what Asuka's heartbeat sounds like. I would be able to hear it."

"Wow," Toji mused. "That's really romantic."

Everyone in the room stared at him for a moment. Kanna giggled.

"What?"

"Wait," Shinji said. "Maybe… I have an idea. I'll be right back."

Without any preamble, he strode over to the open glass doors, stepped through them, and lifted off the ground. A moment later, he returned with a bit of a bounce, a little more hurry in his step.

"I think I found them," he announced, "but they're pretty far away from here, but it's her. I'm sure of it."

"Where?" said Toji.

"Uh," he pointed in a vaguely westward direction, "that way. Can you fly?"

Toji nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. Yes I can." Then he paused and raised his fist to his face, and started talking to his ring. "Oh, uh, so how do I do that?"

Shinji and Hikari stared at him. Kanna had discovered Pen-Pen and was busily hugging him, which he tolerated with his usual stoic indifference. Toji lowered the ring.

"Hold on," he said, and squeezed his eyes shut.

The ring began to pulse, and a faint green glow emerged from the living room. It grew brighter and brighter, painting shadows on the walls, like lights shining through a leaf. When it was over, he strode into the living room, and the others followed him. Sitting on the floor in the living room was an old fashioned lantern made out of green metal. Shinji started when he realized he'd seen it before.

"Okay, so now what… seriously? That is so cheesy." He turned back to them. "Okay, everybody stand back."

He picked up the lantern and put his hand against the lens, and began to speak. "In brightest day, in blackest night…"

|O|

Asuka sat on the cold marble floor for a few moments, her head spinning. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers in front of her eyes, looking on them as if they were new. The idea rolled in her head, rolled and rolled like a stone coming to the crest of a hill and sinking to the bottom again. She was an Amazon. Everything she'd known about her life was wrong.

"Come with me," Diana said softly as she gently helped Asuka regain her feet. "I have something you should see."

She followed the Queen to the rear of the hall, where the tall, matronly woman lifted a switch in an alcove. There was a grinding sound and a section of the wall beside the switch retracted inwards, and then slid to one side, the heavy slab of stone drifting with strange lightness. Beyond it was a large room filled with, surprisingly, an array of computer equipment. Diana led Asuka to the rear of the chamber, where there was a large television screen.

From a nearby shelf, she produced a video disk. "This was brought to me by Bruce Wayne. We decided that, one day, you would need to see it. To see the truth."

She inserted the disc beneath the screen, and then paused. "This may disturb you, child, but you must see the truth. What was done to your mother was done deliberately. The Scenario, the plan, required a pilot who was utterly psychologically broken. Feeding your mother to the Evangelion was the first step."

She sat beside Asuka, and the file began to play. There was no sound. It began with a simple black title card, PRODUCTION MODEL CONTACT EXPERIMENT, SUBJECT: K. SORYU. The image was grainy, and looked down into an Eva cage at an odd angle, like a security camera. In the center of the cage was the massive, hideous head of Unit-02, bereft of its armor. An entry plug, bulkier and rougher looking than she was used to, jutted from the creature's back. Its eyes were dead and lifeless.

In the lower corner of the screen, a detail of suited men appeared, leading a tall, strikingly beautiful woman with long red-gold hair, six of them in all surrounding her. Her head was bowed and her shoulders slumped, and she walked drunkenly, as if drugged. Asuka rose literally to the edge of her seat, staring wide-eyed at what she saw.

"Mama."

Kyoko looked up and saw the head of the Evangelion and something happened. Her shoulders drew back and her mouth opened in a feral, silent scream. She dipped into a crouch and spun, her long leg striking the man next to her from his feet. It all happened at once. She rolled out of a diving tackle from the man behind her, and they started to pull guns from their jackets. She stood up with incredible speed and caught the one behind her in an uppercut that sent his head back so sharply that, combined with the boneless, graceless way he fell, declared his death with certainty. Her eyes were wide open, wild, and there was a feral sneer on her lips.

The man beside her reached towards her with a gun and before he could actually aim she was already too close, had seized his arm, and broke it in several places, both forearm and upper arm, and his gun dropped as he fell, crying out in pain. She picked up a clipboard one of them had dropped and rammed the edge into the nearest man's throat, crushing his windpipe, then spun and delivered a sharp kick to his chin that twisted his head at an odd angle. Two men grabbed her, one on each arm, and she writhed, twisted like an eel, and planted her fingers right in their eyes, then dropped out of their grasp and with her fists, broke both their legs at the knee.

They shot her. The flashes blinded the camera a bit, made the picture shake, as they shot her twice, four times, then started wildly firing their guns, missing as many times as they hit. Blood streamed from her midsection and her legs and matted her hair over one eye, but she didn't stop. She grabbed one gun and snapped it up into the agent's face, breaking his nose, then grabbed his jaw and twisted, wringing his head around on his neck almost one hundred and eighty degrees. She stalked forward to the last man and as she was taking hold of him, faltering from her wounds, a dozen more appeared from off screen, swarming her from every direction. She writhed as they lifted her bodily from the ground and shoved her into the plug, locking it behind her.

Asuka began to tremble, her body twitching each time she saw the door of the plug tremble from the impact. As it slid home into the Evangelion, there was a dent beginning to form in the side. The screen shook and the picture fuzzed, and the four hideous frog-eyes of Unit-02 began to moved, twitching towards the camera. When they dragged her mother out of the plug, she lay listless, lifeless, broken and bleeding. The video ended as a medical team rushed to her side with a gurney.

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

"What do you want me to do?" Asuka whispered.

Diana rose, and she followed, without being bidden. They returned to the great hall.

"When I was younger, my elders recognized the dangers facing Man's World. A champion was chosen, an emissary to bring peace and justice, to act as an example. That champion was gifted by the Gods themselves. These bracers gift those who wear them with strength drawn from Gaea herself, granting great power and endurance, and speed, the gift of Hermes. Through this lasso, one may wield the fires of truth, making any bound by it incapable of lying."

"You want me to…"

"Yes," Diania said, almost hungrily. "By taking up the gifts of the gods, you will become more powerful than any man. You will rival Yui Ikari's child in strength and speed. You will even be able to fly."

"Fly?" she trailed off, staring at the bracers. "Why me? Why give this to me?"

"We are few, now," Diana looked away. "Second Impact and what came after took a terrible toll on our populace. More importantly, I am… no longer worthy. They are no longer mine to use. Will you accept them, Asuka? Will you become our champion?"

"Yes," Asuka said, meeting her gaze as levelly as she could.


	18. Reunion

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

18- Reunion

Very few people appreciated exactly how big the "Geofront" –the Black Moon- actually was. The artificial structures built by humans occupied only about a tenth of its total mass, representing a crude chipping away at the spherical surface of the great egg. Some small part of Gendo Ikari recognized the vastness of the structure when he descended to the lower depths of NERV's headquarters, not far from the resting place of the First Angel itself, to the area that had been poetically termed the Chamber of Gauf- the birthplace of his ward, Rei Ayanami, now unfortunately lost to him.

What he needed, he found in the lower depths, a darkened room dominated by a huge semicircular tank full of LCL, in which floated dozens of vaguely defined, shadowy shapes. A normal person would have been disturbed when the identical likeness of Rei floated close enough to the outer wall of the tank to be seen, an empty smile plastered unmoving on her face. For Gendo, visiting this place was routine.

All of Rei's memories were stored here, of course. Every week she stripped, ascended into the tube in the center of the room, and had her brainwaves scanned into the MAGI system while she floated in LCL. The purpose of this was twofold. It allowed Rei to be backed up, and thus replaced if the active body was destroyed or damaged beyond her ability to heal, and it provided the basis for the Dummy System which was, unfortunately, unable to synchronize with Unit One, although it was best not to share that information with Keel just yet.

Also stored here, in a locked and monitored storage unit, was a cylindrical bundle of artificial nerve fibers and gelatinous material similar to LCL in its properties, recovered from a space craft of alien manufacture that had crashed to Earth seventeen years prior. The bundle of nerves, barely bigger than a man's finger, was part of the unfathomably complex supercomputer that was the rocket's primary payload. Once Keel learned what the rocket could actually do, it was spirited away to be worked on by SEELE's other interests, but every attempt to force it to do to another human being what it did to Yui Ikari had failed. Fortunately, the rudimentary study of the computer itself permitted the construction of the MAGI system and, ultimately, the modifications to Rei's own nervous system.

He was not here for the sample. Instead, he was here to complete the process he had initiated when he ordered Unit-00's core removed from its body and connected to the system. In a rare display of actual usefulness, Naoko Akagi- the present Akagi's mother and predecessor- had provided him with the tools he needed to replace Rei should she become unsalvageable, leaving only the empty shells floating in the tanks.

He entered the commands himself- he preferred that Ritsuko not know what he was doing; in her own limited way she was intelligent enough to put together the pieces and realize what he'd done the night her mother had taken her own life, if she knew what was in the core of Unit-00. He had helped design the machinery and observed the process enough times to perform it without her. The first step was to flush a blank clone into the tube. He deliberately avoided the empty creature's gaze as it floated above him in the tank, staring blankly at the world. It bobbed in the tank, revolving slowly, lacking the presence of mind to grasp the handles Rei used to steady herself during the process.

Anyone in the Eva cage standing near Unit-00's core may have noticed the sound as the currents began to run through it, felt the sudden surge of electricity in their skin, but would have assumed whatever was happening was merely part of the maintenance process. Ordinarily, the soul of the active clone would have returned to one of the bodies automatically- the process sounded metaphysical but involved quantum entanglement and a great deal of mathematical equations. The first time, however, it had been forced into a body from this very equipment. It had been his hope that what would arrive from Unit-01's core would be Yui's soul.

It wasn't.

The process, however, had been refined by the error, and so he could extract the entity in the core now with more finesse, and with greater ease since this one actively desired escape whereas Yui had always resisted him. The clone in the tank closed her eyes and they began to flutter. He entered the next set of commands, to upload the memories from the MAGI system- not from the Rei backup files, but from a much older source within the computer's memory.

The process would actually take hours- she wouldn't wake up for some time. Enough for him to begin injecting the hormonal cocktail that would age the clone- a sixteen year old body simply wouldn't do.

SSSSS

Asuka sat on the beach, staring out over the ocean with her eyes unfocused. She'd drawn her knees up to her chest and her arms rested on them, and the silvery bracers on her wrists felt unusually heavy. There was no sound except the gentle lapping of waves. In the distance, seabirds dipped and fluttered in the sunset, seeking after prey. Soon they would return to land and roost. A cool breeze was rolling in off the ocean.

She had imagined him flying in, just cutting through the air without any apparent means of propulsion to join her, imagined it so many times that when it actually happened it took her a moment to register. He landed on the beach in front of her gracefully, though when he did his feet slid a bit on the wet sand. He was dressed in his school uniform, and the gathering wind blew the collar of his shirt in his face, and he flinched a little.

He was there. He was real.

He started to say something but didn't finish. When she embraced him she hit so hard it knocked him off his feet and they rolled in the surf. He tried to say something, again, and she cut him off with a kiss so insistent it almost hurt. They sat there for a moment at the edge of the sea, waves parting around them, until the water had slicked her hair against her head.

"I can't breathe," he stammered out.

"Idiot, we both know you don't need to breathe," she grinned.

There was a cough. Her head snapped around. Toji stood on the beach, along with Hikari and his sister, and Pen-Pen. She stared at the penguin for a minute.

"Wark!"

"Toji! Your arm… your leg... _your clothes…"_

He wore a suit that looked a lot like the black test plugsuit he would have worn in Unit-03, though it was mostly green, except the boots and gloves, which were a bright white. In a white circle on his chest was inscribed a device, a stylized lantern, in green. A ring glowed on his left hand.

"Hi," Toji shrugged. "Long story."

Shinji sat up beside her. "Where is everybody?"

"This way," she said as she rose, and headed up the sandy path that led to the interior of the island.

/\.../\

Kaji sat with his hands folded between his knees, hunched over as if in prayer, but to pray would have been to betray the old man who lay unmoving before him. It seemed that his unbelievable strength had finally begun to fade now that he'd lived long enough to pass on his legacy to his student. He hardly noticed when Shinji walked into the room. Drawing on years of practice and focus, Kaji looked at him with a practiced indifference, betraying no surprise.

"I wondered when you'd show up."

Shinji froze. Literally froze, unnaturally still, like a statue. Kaji almost smirked; some part of the boy had clearly given up on pretending anymore. He no longer tried to fit in. He wasn't wearing the glasses. He just was.

"Misato said I should come alone," he said at last, barely louder than a whisper.

Kaji did show surprise when the old man said hoarsely, "come here."

Shinji walked closer to the bed, not meeting the old man's gaze, as if by merely looking at him he would break him. He stood next to Kaji and finally met Bruce eye to eye, and the old man studied him for a moment.

"So you're him."

Shinji swallowed and nodded, withering under that gaze.

"Talk to me."

Shinji's mouth worked silently for a moment, and then he began to speak. He told the old man everything. Doomed planet. Desperate scientist. Last hope. Coming to Tokyo-3, fighting the Angels, all of it. He listened patiently as Shinji told the story- dragging the Angel into the stratosphere, the flash, waking up on the Moon, the Watchtower. When it was over he studied Shinji a moment longer.

"All my life, I wished for someone like you to come along," Anger flashed in his eyes. "but wishes don't meant anything on their own. You have to _make_ a better world."

Shinji nodded, but said nothing. The old man's gaze shifted to Kaji.

"Ryoji. Turn this thing off. I'm ready."

Kaji stood and walked away from the bed, and a moment later, the purple light bathing the bed died, fading away to nothing, twilight flooding in to replace it. Kaji joined Shinji by the side of the bed and they stood vigil. The old man closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, then another, and then his chest fell for the last time.

Shinji put a hand on Kaji's shoulder.

Kaji twisted and took Shinji by the wrist, and before he had time to react, Shinji flipped up and over the older man's head, then slammed into the marble floor. It cracked under his weight, tiny chips skittering across the smoothly polished surface. Shinji stared up at him, shocked.

"After what you've done," Kaji shook his head.

"What do you mean?"

"You want to play hero? Fine. That's your choice. You put everyone you know in danger when you confronted Gendo. _Decades_ of work, everything _he,"_ Kaji gestured to where Wayne's form lay prone, "built thrown away so you can run around in your cape."

Shinji was on his feet so fast it did startle Kaji this time, sending him a backward a rolling step. "What was I supposed to do? Huh? Just let him keep hurting people? He almost killed Toji!"

"Toji is one person," Kaji said levelly. "The people controlling NERV caused Second Impact, Shinji, and they have worse planned."

"Everyone matters," Shinji said heatedly. "Everyone. I'm going back to Tokyo-3. I'm going to stop these people."

"Then you'll do it without my help," Kaji said angrily, turning from him. "I'm not going to watch you get people killed through your stupidity and arrogance."

He walked away in silence, leaving Shinji alone with the dead man.

Asuka found him a moment later. She glared after Kaji, but said nothing. "We can't find Rei."

SSSSS

Rei Ayanami sat alone in the sand, watching the moon over the sea, when Shinji lighted on the sand behind her and took a seat beside her, his legs crossed under him. He waited for a moment, but she said nothing. Her crimson eyes were red and he could see the tracks of tears under them. She looked away, her soft, bluish hair falling over her face.

"Go away," she whispered, without looking at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Leave me alone, Shinji. I do not wish to burden you."

He blinked in confusion and sat down next to her. "I don't understand."

"I cannot kill myself," she said flatly, staring at the sea. "If I die, I will be replaced, but I do not wish it. I have decided that isolation is the best solution."

Shinji's jaw dropped. "You're not a burden," he stammered. "Why would you say that?"

"Do you know what I am?"

He shook his head. "An… Eva pilot?"

"I am a clone of your mother."

The words hit him like a physical force. He fell back on the palms of his hands and stares at her. "That… that means…"

"I am a thing," she said, her voice oddly calm despite the tears freely flowing from her eyes, "someone grew me in a lab."

"It means you're… my…" he scrunched his eyebrows… "sister?"

She stared at him, her eyes wide. "You are not upset?"

He couldn't help himself. He hugged her. She let out a breathless cry of shock, barely audible, and sat stock still in his arms. He looked her in the eye. "Upset? Do you know what this means? I have _family_, Rei. I have a family!"

"I am not a person."

"Don't _say_ that! Yes you are!"

"I am not human. My genetic makeup contains-"

"Neither am I, Rei. Does it matter?"

"It… does not concern you?"

"No," he whispered, "It doesn't."

She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them for some time. "Then it does not concern me."

He smiled, and brushed the tears from her cheek. "Good. Let's go-"

Before he could finish, her eyes rolled back in her head and she went into a spasm, her entire body jerking rigid. In a panic, he caught her and lifted her up from the sand.

"Rei? _Rei?" _

SSSSS

Maya was sipping her cold cup of coffee in Doctor Akagi's office when Aoba looked around and said, quietly, "I've been thinking."

The other two bridge technicians turned from where they'd been working on the repair specifications for Unit-02 and looked at him. Akagi ignored him, studiously typing away at her terminal, her one arm held out awkwardly, as her leg was fixed into a cast and forced her away from the desk a little more than usual.

"Thinking about what?"

"Well, see, the thing is," he said, his voice sinking to a harsh whisper. "We work in a secret underground base, right?"

"So?" Hyuga said.

"Our Commander wears all black. He ki-hurt Superman," he glanced at Maya, who shot him a sharp look. "There's all these goons in sunglasses everywhere. I think we're the bad guys."

Ritsuko let out a strangled sob, her hands falling away from the keyboard. "You son of a bitch," she hissed angrily, "how could you?"

"Uh," Aoba said, "I was joking…"

"It's not that, you idiot," Maya snapped, rushing to her superior's side. Her gaze fell on the terminal. "Oh my God."

SSSSSS

The process was finally complete. The clone had survived the hormone treatment, and had successfully aged into full adulthood. Her fluttering eyelids steadied, closed tightly, and pressed open. Crimson eyes stared at Gendo with a malicious mirth, and her lips twisted into a sneer. He drained the LCL and as the level lowered, she floated to the bottom and steadied herself. The tube slid apart, exposing her to the open air, and she spat out a thin stream of LCL.

"Hello dear," Naoko purred.

SSSSS

Rei lay unconscious in a bed much like the one Bruce Wayne had occupied, silken sheets drawn up around her neck. She was breathing peacefully now. When Shinji landed in front of the Great Hall, others had offered to carry her, but he insisted. The others had joined him now, pressed in around her. She drew in a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"Rei?" Shinji leaned over her. "What is it? What happened?"

"He has done something he should not," she said, her eyes focused on nothing. "Something evil."

Before she could offer any more, she drifted off to sleep again, her head lolling to one side.

Diana rested a hand on his shoulder. "She is no physical danger. You need not worry, Shinji Ikari. Our medical science is far beyond that of Man's World. She will receive the finest care."

He straightened. "I'd like everyone to join me outside, please."

Without waiting for assent, he walked out of the Hall and into the courtyard beyond, and stood in the moonlight. He stared up at the pale circle of the moon in the sky as the others filtered out around him. Toji and Asuka, Hikari and Misato, Mari and even Fuyutsuki. Only Kaji was absent, and Shinji didn't look for him. He turned around and faced them.

He took in a deep breath. "When I came to Tokyo-3, I was alone. My only reason was to fulfill my father's words to me, the only words of his I will ever hear. Since I came to the city, I've gained more than I would have imagined," he looked at Asuka. "Family and friends. You mean more than anything to me."

"When the N2 mines that killed the last Angel went off, they threw me away from the Earth, and I landed on the Moon. When I was there, I met a man named J'onn," he looked at Diana, whose eyes widened in shock. "I've seen the consequences we face if we fail. Right now, my father and men like him control the most powerful things in the world, and they mean to use them to make themselves gods. I can't let that happen. J'onn showed me what happened to Mars when the Angels were there. I won't let that happen to my home."

"Tomorrow, I'm going back to Tokyo-3. I'm going home. I don't expect anyone else to go with me. If any of you decide to stay here, I will understand. I can't. The gifts I have need to be used. I have a responsibility to do everything I can."

He had barely finished speaking when Asuka said, "I'm going with you."

"Me too," said Misato.

"You know I'm in," Toji grinned.

"And my axe!" said Mari.

Toji scowled at her. "Way to ruin the moment."

Fuyutsuki walked to his side. "Your mother would be proud of you. Whatever I can do to help, I'm with you."

SSSSS

Misato found Kaji by an empty bed, staring into his folded hands. She flexed the fingers of her now freed arm. Having placed it under the Purple Ray, she could barely tell it had been injured at all- the only remaining sign of her injury was a little stiffness. He didn't look at her as she approached.

"Ryoji," she said, expecting that to catch his attention. If it did, she couldn't tell. "I'm going with them. I'm not going to let those kids do this by themselves. If you stay here, don't come back. Don't come back into my life. I ran away from you before, and I'm sorry. It was a mistake."

She stood in the silence a moment longer, waiting for him to react. He simply sat, his breathing low and steady.

"Please," she said softly, "they need you."

He said nothing. She turned, and walked away.

"Wait," he said, his voice thick. "We need a plan."

She stopped.

"Batman always has a plan," he whispered.

SSSSS

Shinji sat on the beach himself, now, staring at the waves in the darkness. There was the moonlight, of course, but there was also the play of infrared and ultraviolet off the waters, each glinting whitecap like a frothing stroke from a mad artist's brush. If he concentrated, he could see streaks of light crossing the world above- radio and microwave transmissions. Even here, there were so many reminders of what was at stake. He could see the other thing, too, although he heard it as much as saw it, the strange half-sense he'd felt in the apartment when Asuka and Mari and Rei were training to synchronize their movements. He let out a long sigh.

Asuka sat down beside him. "Are you okay?"

He looked at her. In the darkness her blue eyes were a deep purple, her red hair like autumn leaves on a dark night. The moonlight made her pale skin glow faintly, and the bracers she wore at her wrists caught the light as she twisted her arms this way and that.

"You look better without them," he said absently.

She blinked. "What?"

"The nerve clips. I like your hair better without them."

She sighed.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he said, looking out over the ocean. "You don't have to go. I don't want you to get hurt."

By way of reply, she picked up a smooth, rounded stone in her hand, and looked at it. No doubt it had been carried in by the sea, having been washed up from some place far away. It might have been part of a mountain, once in its life, or a mighty boulder. She turned it in her hands with a faint, yet fierce smile on her face, closed her fingers around it, and crushed it into a fine powder and a few chips.

He smiled.

"I can fly, too, you know."

He tilted his head. "Really?"

"Yup," she said as she leaned in. She planted a chaste kiss on his cheek and put her lips almost to his ear, and her voice thick the coquettish seduction only a teenage girl can muster, whispered "Catch me if you can."

/\../\

Maya was in something of a panic.

Doctor Akagi was weeping openly, like a little girl, and she had no idea what to do. Hyuga and Aoba were no help, either. They just sat there, staring at her like she'd grown a third head. Maya put an arm around her mentor's shoulders, and to her surprise the woman leaned into her, sobs as fierce and thick as ever.

The computer terminal in front of her beeped.

"Doctor Akagi?"

The older woman didn't reply.

"Ritsuko?"

"W-What?" she said hoarsely, clutching at her face. "What?"

"You, um, got an instant message." she squinted at the screen. "It says they're coming, whoever they are. Who the heck is '1BAT4U'?"


	19. Villains

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 19- Villains

"He activated a Rei clone."

The three technicians sat around Ritsuko, staring at her with wide eyes. There was no sound in the lab, save for the last drips of coffee in the nearby pot, long gone cold. Ritsuko had a haunted, vacant look in her eyes, focused on nothing. With her broken leg, sallow skin, and dye job beginning to show at the roots, the long tracks of cheap mascara down her cheeks only made her look older, more haggard.

"They cloned Rei?" Maya chirped in surprise.

Ritsuko stifled a bitter laugh. "Rei _is_ a clone. She was always a clone. There are about two dozen of them down in Central Dogma, floating in a big tank."

"A clone of who?" Aoba quirked an eyebrow.

"About one third Yui Ikari, one third Angel, and one third artificial nerve fiber from an alien probe."

"Wait, what? Did you say _alien_? As in little green men?"

"As in Shinji."

Their eyes all widened.

"Does that mean she can, like, do stuff?"

"Heh. That's one hell of an understatent. Rei is basically a miniature Evangelion- the technology is basically the same, just on a smaller scale. She has a lot in common with Unit-01, as a matter of fact. We've been keeping her on drugs to suppress any… abilities she may manifest."

"Wait," Aoba said, "the Evas are dependent on external power, right? So what does that mean?"

"The Evas need an external power source to unfold their AT-Fields, and for the onboard computer systems, the servos in the armor, but the Evas don't have cores like the Angels do, so they lack Super Solenoid Engines."

"So what's the big deal? It's not like Rei is going to stick her fingers in a light socket or something."

"No," Ritsuko said ominously, "but I have samples of Shinji's genetic material we recovered from Unit-01's hand and armor, when he touched it during some of the fights. If Rei shares any similarity to him at all, she doesn't _need_ a power source."

"Why not?"

"She's got the Sun."

"Doctor, you got another message," Maya said.

Ritsuko wheeled her chair over to the computer and opened the file. "It's from the same person, it says… I've lost weight."

Maya's eyebrows scrunched together. "Huh?"

"It says I've lost weight," Ritsuko went on, "and the person who sent this needs our help."

"With what?"

She read further, and her lips pulled into a frown. She sat back and turned to face the others.

"If you help me with this, you're putting your lives on the line. We might face retribution. We'll be criminals."

"What do you need me to do?" Maya said, almost as soon as she'd finished.

"I'm in," Hyuga nodded.

"I wasn't actually kidding about the 'we're the bad guys' thing." Aoba said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Log into your terminals. We've got work to do."

SSSSS

Gendo had just settled into the pose when the lights went out. Typical. Light from the Geofront streamed into his office, making it look surprisingly mundane despite its size. Without hesitation, he stood, opened the drawer to his right, and retrieved the sidearm he kept there, then slipped it behind his back, under his coat. He checked his gloves, adjusted his glasses, and strode out of the office, opening the door manually for once.

Without the elevators, he had to descend the stairs to reach the command center, where he was again forced to manually open the doors. He found a profusion of flashlights in the hands of the various bridge personnel running about like frantic children. Lacking a proper desk to occupy, his still being in several pieces off to his right, he assumed a position of command with his hands clasped his behind his back, and therefore conveniently within reach of his gun, looking down on the deck below.

"Akagi, status."

"She's not here, sir," some meaningless technician replied shakily. "She and the primary technicians are working on Unit-02."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Yes. I need information. I want a status report on the Evangelions."

A moment later, without ceremony, the lights came back on. There was a dull thrum as the climate control system restarted, and stale air began to blow into the massive chamber again, ghosting against the back of his neck. He looked around the room, watched the screens flicker to life, and raised his voice in command.

"Get a Section 2 detail down here immediately. Seal the base and sound intruder alert."

"Sir?"

"The primary power system and four reserves do not just shut off and start up again for no reason. Do it."

/\../\

Misato shrugged into the last of the gear Kaji had prepared for her. It consisted primarily of an armored bodysuit like the one he wore, although unlike his hers wasn't tailor made and was a little tight around the hips and chest and made funny, barely audible little squeaking sounds every time she moved, at least for the first hour or so that she'd worn it. She'd also been provided with sturdy boots, similar to his, and heavy gloves that still felt a little weird.

Apparently, the suit Kaji had retrieved from the safe house outside the city was an older model. The new one that waited for him on the island had apparently been tailor made, since it fit him perfectly. It looked more like some sort of high tech composite armor than a cloth suit, as the previous one had, to the point that the mask was more of a rigid helmet than a simple cowl. The cape was a different material, too, less like leather and weird to the touch. Kaji had said something about it responding to an electrical current, able to hold a shape.

Misato looked down at herself. She'd forgone the mask and cape that came with her suit. There was a stylized red bat on her chest. "Who did you say this belonged to again?"

"Barbara."

"And who is Barbara?"

"She's dead," he said tersely, "now be quiet. We're being stealthy."

"Look, mister, just because I have a bat on my chest doesn't mean you own me or something."

He shot her a look over his shoulder that could cut glass. She clammed up. The helmet he wore had some sort of lenses over his eyes that made him look even more eerie, like he had no pupils at all. She had to constantly remind herself that it was just a suit, and she knew who was wearing it.

He was busily working on one of the many, many access panels to be found in any of the dozen Geofront entrances scattered around the city. Dropping the power for a few minutes had given them time to get out of sight of the security cameras. The panel popped free and he set it aside.

"Let's go."

"I hope you know where you're going."

"I don't need a map. Besides, I put a tracking bug in Ritsuko's wheelchair."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You better not have any weird spy gadgets hidden in my apartment."

"I tried putting a camera in your underwear drawer, but anything big enough to fit your fat ass kept covering it up."

"You're a dick."

"I didn't say that was a bad thing. Now get in the vent."

\/\/

Gendo turned around and calmly faced his old professor as the old man strode into the command center, flanked on either side by the Soryu girl and the boy that piloted Unit-03, whatever his name was; Toki or Tophi or something. The girl had mangled her plugsuit for some reason, leaving her arms bare, revealing silvery bracelets on her wrists. She wore a belt of hammered bronze, from which hung a looped length of rope, made of cloth of gold, and her hair was pushed back by an absurd little tiara of the same material as her wrist bands. The boy, standing on Fuyutsuki's other side, was wearing some sort of absurd jumpsuit, mostly green with…

Normally, Gendo Ikari was never taken by surprise. His eyebrows did move a millimeter, however, as he realized he was standing in the same room as a Green Lantern. Whatever the Soryu girl thought she could do, that ring could take out half the Geofront. He prided himself that a movement of his brows was the only reaction he gave. The boy would probably assume that he had no knowledge of the Corps. Despite his superior's belief that they were extinct, one of them stood in front of him now. The situation called for caution.

"Fuyutsuki."

"Gendo." The old man nodded.

He glanced at the Section 2 men and gave a slight nod, stopping them as they edged closer. The boy would flatten them if they tried anything.

"What are you doing here?"

"Under the authority granted me by NERV's charter, I'm placing you under arrest."

"Really."

"Yes," the old man looked at the Section 2 agents. "Really. Agents, arrest this man."

"You really expect this to work?"

"Since Shinji will be addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations any minute and Akagi has already transmitted all of the carefully selected evidence we need, yes, I really expect this to work. If these gentlemen aren't interesting in cooperating out of some misplaced sense of loyalty, I'll have to rely on our pilots here, who are duly authorized and cleared to enter this facility. If they happen to have picked up some extra associations, It's not really my concern."

Gendo smirked. "Very well." He looked at the agents. "You have authorization to break cover."

The three men standing behind him pulled out their guns, and then without ceremony threw them down. They clattered across the floor, forgotten, as they turned, faced each other, and ran at one another as if intending a football tackle. When they hit, each made a loud, wet slapping sound as their flesh, clothes, even sunglasses folded together, losing their various hues and taking on the appearance of heavy, wet brown clay. The entire mass rolled and stood up on two stumpy legs, unfolded a pair of massive arms, and opened a pair of eyes, all yellow with no iris or pupil.

The thing opened a massive mouth filled with crooked teeth and rumbled, "I was startin' ta get _bored._"

SSSSS

Shinji adjusted the collar of his suit, but didn't need to. His original had served him well enough, but he wasn't the best tailor in the world, and it showed. Even though it was of simple cloth and merely duplicated his original design, if blue long underwear and a cape could be called a design, the new suit of Amazon manufacture fit him so perfectly it still surprised him a little. He puffed his chest, took a deep breath, and put on his best Superman face as he pushed open the doors to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The original UN building had been destroyed, along with the rest of Manhattan, in Second Impact, inundated with water. Although the northeast coast of North America had suffered a gentler fate than those coasts directly in line with the massive global tsunami, the building had to be abandoned. Considering Japan's importance in the new world order, and the proximity to NERV and the Geofront, the Assembly met in Tokyo-2, the new capital, for half the year, before packing up and traveling to Germany. Jingoistic elements in the United States kept the assembly from returning there any time soon.

Shinji entered at the rear of the auditorium, and tried not to look nervous as he realized he'd just broken a very elaborate and very expensive lock. Fortunately, no alarms went off, although several uncertain security guards were pointing guns at him and men in suits and sunglasses were moving around hurriedly. The chamber was huge, accommodating hundreds of people; the renewed importance and increased authority and prestige of the body in the recovery from Second Impact had increased the number of delegates and officials present. Blue was the dominating color, with gold curtains at the floor of the auditorium, where the Secretary General and other officials sat under the new UN emblem, a view of the Earth from the north pole adjusted for the new, post-Impact coastlines.

He looked around for a moment as every set of eyes in the room settled on him. He felt a sudden, crushing weight as delegates and secretaries and translators, each wearing a radio headset, looked at him expectantly. He settled his own gaze on the Secretary General, a doughty gray haired Japanese woman whose name he suddenly couldn't remember.

"Madam Secretary," he said, repeating the words that Fuyutsuki had helped him practice, "I don't represent any nation, but I'd like to address the assembly."

The woman stood up and looked at him for a moment. "You will require a sponsor."

She looked a bit surprised as dozens of hands shot up, followed by hundreds more, until almost all of them were raised.

"I believe that will be sufficient."

He trotted down the central set of stairs, taking two steps to cross each broad level, until he reached the podium and settled himself behind it. He looked over the assembly, studiously avoided Misato's suggestion that he picture them all in their underwear, which would have been redundant, all things considered, and took a deep breath.

"Madam Secretary, delegates. I will assume some of you have heard of me. I don't watch much television, but it is my understanding that the news media are interested in me."

A quiet round of laughter interrupted him. He waited it out patiently.

"Some of you are probably wondering who I am, and how I can do the things I can do. I am a visitor from another world, far away from the Earth, a world called Krypton. My homeworld died in an explosion. I am the last of my kind."

The last few chuckles died suddenly, and the room's mood darkened a bit.

"I have come forward today after being approached by certain members of the organization called NERV. As you know, I have participated in battles with the creatures known as Angels. I have been credited with destroying some of them. I believe this diminishes the heroic actions of the pilots and the organization that supports them, but that is not why I am here."

He felt the podium creak a bit under his grip, and let out a very, very subtle sigh as he relaxed as much as he could.

"Some of the higher level members of your governments are already aware of this, but the commonly accepted explanation for Second Impact- a high speed meteor impact- is not correct. The actual cause of the disaster was an experiment involving an attempt to extract material from Adam, the First Angel."

All hell broke loose. Delegates leapt to their feet and began yelling at him, at each other, into the air. The security guards ran in all directions, trying to break up a dozen sudden fist fights. The only person not moving was a small, spare man in the front row, who sat fidgeting, working his fingers around the brim of a trilby hat. Shinji glanced at him for a moment and waited until order was restored.

"I understand that I am making an incredible claim, and that you will demand proof. As I speak, a brave group of whistleblowers within NERV are transmitting absolute proof of these charges to every government, every member of this body, and selected documents to every major news media outlet around the world. In fact," he glanced at the wall of clocks off to his left, "by the time I am done speaking this sentence, the process should be complete."

He watched and fought the urge to smirk as he saw dozens of people opening laptops and pulling out smartphones. Many of them looked at their delegates and nodded, their faces suddenly pale.

"I want you to understand that the vast majority of NERV is not aware of this," he said, putting a little extra pressure into his voice, enough to make every head swivel around to him again. "This conspiracy exists at the highest levels of the organization, and the secretive group that controls it, which identifies itself as SEELE, or to this body as the Human Instrumentality Committee."

He watched jaws drop open and tightened his own mouth to control the smirk.

The spare little man with the gray hair in the front row finished saying something into a phone, shoved it in his pocket, and hurriedly got up to leave, rushing for the nearest exist. He slipped his hat onto his head, pressed his eyes closed in concentration, and then the security guards all pulled their guns at once and started firing into the crowd.

|O|

Fuyutsuki did what he agreed they would do when this situation arose, which was run, leaving Asuka and Toji behind. Asuka, being Asuka, strode confidently up to the ten foot tall mud monster and punched it in the face. She let out a yelp of surprise as her arm sank up to her elbow into the cold muck of the creature's body.

"Oh, you're strong for a girl," it rumbled. "But I bet you need to breathe, don'tcha?"

It moved in a cascade around her, drawing her entire body into its mass. Cold muck flooded around her, forcing her mouth shut, pressing into her nostrils, overwhelming her with a fleshy stink. She struggled vainly as it formed into a ball, surrounding and encompassing her with a crushing pressure. She tried to swim, and though she tore through the sludge easily, there was always more, as if it was moving with her. Stars began to swirl in her vision.

She felt as much as heard the creature rumble, "I can feel your heartbeat slowing. Not long now."

She flew.

As she lifted up, she felt the creature move with her, and she drug it upwards until she felt the slap as it hit the ceiling of the command center. She waited as long as she could, hoping no one would be in the way, and then plummeted straight down. When she hit, the creature blew apart like a clump of dirt thrown into a brick wall, roaring and rage as it did. She leapt away from the point of impact as the thing swirled, individual pieces drawing back together. She pulled a particularly large chunk off her shoulder and threw it down, then flicked more out of her hair.

Toji raced past her, his body surrounded by a nimbus of green energy. He aimed his ring and a beam of energy shot out, lighting up the chamber. A ball of emerald formed around the creature and the floor beneath it, lifted up with a crash and a few thin trails of dust, and Toji crushed it down as far as it would go. The thing's face formed inside the ball and leered at him angrily.

"I've got it!" he said triumphantly.

"Yeah, and what the hell are you going to _do_ with it?"

Before Toji could answer, there was a swirl of black in the middle of the chamber, like a sudden cloud of black dust, over the heads of the panicked technicians below. The dust swirled and congealed and then expanded, bathing the entire room in darkness, drowning out even the light of Toji's ring. Asuka turned around wildly, disoriented.

"Hey!" Toji shouted, "What gives?"

"Something's wrong," Asuka said, "the lights are still on!"

Almost as soon as she'd finished speaking, the darkness receded to a central point, which was the tip of a long, thin black walking stick in the hands of a man in an all-black bodysuit that left only his pale hands and face exposed. He wore a top hat, of all things, at a jaunty angle on his head and a pair of dark sunglasses over an arrogant sneer. He tipped his cane over his shoulders in mock weariness. Beside him stood an exceptionally tall, stocky but not quite heavyset woman with a fair amoung of muscle and long red hair and a gargantuan, inhumanly well-muscled man in what looked like a Mexican wrestler's garb, complete with a heavy belt and Luchador mask, connected to a box on his wrist by a bundle of tubes. He turned the box and his entire body began to pulsate, veins standing out against his skin.

"Well," the man with the top hat said, "what 'ave we got 'ere?"

SSSSS

It was hard, but he did it. He'd have to apologize to the people he'd knocked over later, but Shinji caught every bullet, and snatched every gun, folding them neatly into a twisted metal lump about the size of a basketball that thumped on the carpet. The guards stood in confusion, staring at their sore hands, then at him. He swept his gaze around the room, looking for the man in the hat, who'd run out just before the shooting started.

He didn't see him, but there was something else. The headsets most of the people in the room wore on their ears were simple affairs, wired units with a speaker and a microphone. Dozens of them had been cast off and thrown on the floor. A few, though, were different- they had tiny, strikingly complex circuit boards built into them, and tiny antennas, which made no sense, given that they were wired units. As he dropped the bundle of twisted metal he held in his hands he reached down and palmed one that had fallen on the floor, and then tucked it through his belt under his cape.

He swept his gaze around the room again and found the small man in the hat. He took off from the floor, lifted just over the delegate's heads, and took the shortest route, through the wall itself. He emerged on the other side in a cloud of brick dust and broken concrete. The short man in the hat saw him, his eyes flew wide, and he let out a startled "Eep!", then promptly tripped over his own feet.

Shinji planted his fists on his hips. "Who are you?"

The short man put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Would it be of any use now, to speak to this mouse?"

"What?"

"Let me go! Please! I did only what they made me do!"

Shinji pulled the man to his feet by his collar. "I said, who are you?"

"Please, if I don't escape, they'll hurt my Alice!"

The little man looked over Shinji's shoulder, and Shinji's head snapped around as a huge figure stomped up behind him. He dropped the little man and turned to face the newcomer, who had a good three feet on him, dressed in a huge mechanical suit reminiscent of an old fashioned diving apparatus, complete with a clear helmet and a pair of tanks on his back. Cold mist ghosted at his feet, and he raised a strange looking gun, far too big for an ordinary man to have lifted one-handed, and aimed it at Shinji's chest.

"You don't-"

The man in the suit pulled the trigger, and there was a sound like a refrigerator's compressor, a fire hose and the thrum of an electrical generator all mixed together. A beam of pressure struck him square in the chest, and with it endless, bitter cold, a cold so intense he hadn't felt anything like it before, not even in hard vacuum. Almost instantly he was completely surrounded by ice, encased in it and crushed by it. Tendrils of shocking cold slid up under his eyelids and pressed into his ears.

He twisted and with a great tearing sound like wet paper the ice cracked and fell apart in a cascade, great chunks of it clattering to the floor. The entire hallway had been filled with ice from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, ice so cold that mist formed on its surface. To his shock, the man in the suit who'd shot him had disappeared. The little man in the hat hadn't been so lucky.

He'd been caught in the ice, too.

/\../\

Gendo opened the door to his office and for the second time today made a point of keep his face a neutral mask as he faced a man in a bat costume standing in front of his desk. He kept his left hand from drifting to the gun tucked in his waistband.

"Gotcha," said the Batman.

"I think not."

"It's over, Ikari. You can surrender now or you can surrender after I finish beating you down."

Gendo prided himself on his draw. Few would have expected the Commander to be so prepared to personally defend himself, but he devoted several hours each week, in secret of course, to drawing and firing his gun. To his credit, the gun went off, but when it did, it was pointed at the ceiling, where the bullet put a nick in the paint before ricocheting into the window at the far end of the office and shattering it. Gendo clutched his hand, which had somehow sprouted a bat-shaped shuriken, now embedded in the back of his palm. The Batman had barely moved.

"Clearly, I underestimated you. Naoko, kill him."

She stepped into the office behind him, in her black plugsuit. "Yes, dear."

…

On his way to his office, Fuyutsuki had rounded a corner and walked into a nightmare. He stopped dead in the corridor as the muzzle of a gun pressed into his chest. It was held by a tall, painfully thin man in a dark purple suit, bright yellow shirt and pink string tie covered over in a long black overcoat and wide gambler's hat, like some parody of a monstrous clown dressed up as a gangster. His chalk white skin split in a painfully wide smile, revealing too many crooked yellow teeth. He tapped the gun against Fuyutsuki's chest.

"Oh professor!" he chirped in a lunatic falsetto, "What _fun_ we shall have together!"


	20. Feat of Clay

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 20- Feat of Clay

Asuka was starting to get a little mad.

She still had mud from that _thing _in her _hair_, and that was absolutely not acceptable. Further, a fifty foot tall tart in a black leotard had just knocked her straight up through the roof of the command center, which while it folded up like wet cardboard from the impact, still hurt quite a bit. On top of that, she'd been knocked clear out of headquarters itself, out onto the floor of the Geofront.

As she hacked and coughed in an attempt to get the lump out of her throat, she came to the realization that she'd swallowed a bug.

Of course, she'd brought this on herself. She'd concluded, quite reasonably, that she could take the bitch, only to be taken by surprise as, like something out of one of those time-lapse documentaries of plants growing, said bitch had suddenly doubled in size and kept on growing until her head scraped the roof of the command center. Asuka flew up and hit the giant woman in the jaw, only to take a backhanded slap from a hand the size of a small car and end up out here, in the dirt.

She let out a battle cry and went back the way she came, hands out at her sides. Toji was a little overwhelmed. The tall, big, angry one was pounding his shield with her fists even as he moved around in figure eights through the command center, simultaneously dodging and trying to shoot back as thin streamers shadow chased after him. The effect was disorienting, the shadows moving without anything to cast them, without even light to contrast them in some places.

"Toji!" she shouted, "I'll get stick boy off your back! Take out the big one!"

She landed next to the guy with the top hat and the stick, who ignored her as he swept his cane from side to side, directing the thin streamers of shadow like a puppeteer working a set of strings. She dropped into a dismount on her feet and one hand as she landed then stood up, reaching for the lasso on her belt. Mister top hat half-glanced at her and one of the streamers of darkness whipped out of the end of his cane and came lancing towards her.

Reflexively, she dropped into a crouch and crossed her bracers in front of her, just the way Diana had showed her. The darkness hissed when it hit but bounced off, even as an incredible sense of cold worked its way down her forearms. The stream broke into a dozen wispy streamers halfway between smoke and shadow, and where they struck the metal floor under her feet, it hissed and crumbled away into a fine powder.

The man in the top hat turned his full attention back to Toji, and she rose to swing the lariat at him, just as a pair of massive arms wrapped around her, crushed her arms to her side, and clamped down on her with incredible force. She started to shout "Let go of me!" but it came out as a sort of creaking groan.

"You are strong," the man in the Luchador mask said in a rich accent, "but you should pay better attention to your surroundings. Now, I must break you."

She shot him a look over her shoulder, her face twisting into an angry sneer, and shot upwards, taking him with her. There was a meaty thud as he hit the ceiling behind her and his grasp slipped with a loud grunt. As he slipped past her, once again under gravity's grasp, she grabbed his belt with one hand, then twisted her whole body and slammed him into the far wall. He fell back to the floor with a loud slap and groaned, unmoving. She turned to find Toji with a triumphant yell.

A fist as big as she was slammed her into the wall. It cracked, and bits of concrete and fine streamers of dust came down from the ceiling. She planted her feet against the wall and pushed, shoving the huge hand back. She heard Toji calling out.

"Asuka! We have to get them out of here! This whole place is going to come down!"

"What's on the other side of that wall?" she shouted back as another hand fell atop the first one, forcing her into a crouch against the wall behind her.

"I don't know!"

"Let's find out!"

She darted to the side, a cloud of dust rising behind her as the giantess' hands slammed into the wall. She went low, darted between a pair of legs the size of tree trunks, and putting on as much speed as she could shouldered hard into the woman's hip. Her opponent let out a pained grunt and fell through the side wall, slamming through a layer of concrete and steel. She stumbled into a vast opening that Asuka immediately recognized as an Eva cage, and she followed. Toji darted after her.

Her fist connected to the giantess' chin with a satisfying shock of impact that send the huge woman stumbling back against one set of launch rails. Asuka shot forward and pinned her there, pressing her hands into the huge woman's forehead. She looked around in a near panic and spotted what she was looking for, risking one arm to point.

"Toji! _The launch release! Hit the launch release!"_

Toji aimed his fist and sent out a beam of green light that, absurdly, formed into a huge hand and pressed the Eva-sized emergency launch button on the wall. Asuka darted back just in time, hanging in the air as the pneumatic pistons fired, sending the platform rocking skyward with the giantess' warbling scream, shockingly loud and far too deep.

She almost beat Toji back into the command center. The man in the top hat was helping the Luchador to his feet, pushing himself under one massive shoulder to help the man take a stance. They both looked up at Asuka and the man in the hat raised his cane in mocking salute, then a great ball of shadow erupted around them both, quivered for a moment, and then drew back inwards to a single point, like a flower blooming in reverse, leaving them alone in the command center.

The entire "bridge" structure let out an agonized groan and leaned drunkenly to one side. The top section had giant footprints in it, and most of it had been swept clean save for debris and sparking wires where the rows of terminals had been torn out by the root. Asuka landed and felt the floor sway under her feet, and looked up at Toji as he glided to a stop beside her.

"What the hell? They just _Left?_"

/\../\

Kaji was neither sporting, nor chivalrous, nor fair. As soon as the Rei clone stepped into the room, he reached into his belt, drew three black spheres, and tossed them against the wall where they clacked and clattered and then sputtered to life, rolling across the floor on jets of smoke that expanded into a hazy fog. He ducked into the cover, away from Gendo's desk, as the clone stalked, almost stomped, forward, picked up the desk and threw it against the wall, shattering it. She swept her gaze in a circle, red eyes gleaming with fury.

"Won't you come out and play?" she said in a seductive drawl, too-pink tongue rolling over her lower lip.

A shiver went up his spine. That was just _wrong._

He made a mistake. He hesitated, and she spotted him. With astonishing speed she was right in front of him, picked him up by his belt buckle, and without ceremony or comment threw him out the window. The glass shattered around him and he barely had time to shield his face with the cape before he felt the sickening lurch of the fall and saw the lower levels of the base, a good ten stories below, rushing up towards him.

In the calmest voice he could muster he said, "Shinji, I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I need some backup. I can't fly. At all."

Right on cue, he was there, crashing through the floor above. He streaked down past Gendo's office window, adjusted his pace to match Kaji and grabbed on to him, then slowed them both before they hit the floor below. Shinji lifted him up and landed back through the window in the office, then set Kaji's feet on the floor.

They looked at each other.

"That was awkward."

"Right.

"Yeah. Let's not talk about it."

"Okay."

Shinji's eyes went wide and he glanced up at the ceiling, then grabbed Kaji and pulled him into a crouch, standing over him and shielding him with his body. Something pressed down hard on Shinji, almost forcing him down on top of Kaji, pressing his shoulders flat like a huge plate of invisible glass. Shinji grunted under it and the floor groaned under the sudden pressure. There was a tearing sound and a crack shot along the polished black floor, in mockery of the illuminated tree of life above.

"AT-Field!" Shinji grunted, pressing both his palms against the invisible force.

The Rei clone sneered at them, and her eyebrows began to quiver as the field flickered into the visible spectrum over their heads, crushing them towards the floor. Kaji reached into his belt, pulled out a small bat-shaped thrower, and whipped it at her head. He had to hope she couldn't maintain the field pressing down on them and protect herself at the same time. Of course, it was like as not it would just bounce off, as it would if he'd thrown it at Shinji.

Unless he used one of the exploding ones. Which he did.

The batarang (he hated calling them that) exploded with a flash of white phosphorus and the clone let out a yelp. Her concentration shattered, Shinji almost jumped into the ceiling as the force lifted, then bounced back to the floor. The clone wiped the burning white metal out of her face and rounded on Shinji with a snarl.

"You! _You look just like her!"_

Shinji slammed into a hexagonal field of orange light between them, and Kaji slid back on his hands and feet, trying to get out of the potential blast radius. Shinji planted his feet _in the air_ and pushed, trying to spread the field apart with his fingers, as he'd done to the Angels. The clone's expression grew wilder, and a thin trickle of blood began to seep out of her nostril. She took a step forward, clenched fists at her side.

Shinji's face twisted and he let out a grunt as his fists punctured the field, sending it into a rippling haze. The clone screamed and took a step back as if she'd been physically hit, and the field spread out in a wave between them that slammed into the floor and walls and ceiling, cutting a trench into them that went around the room. Kaji rose shakily to his feet.

The clone took a step back again as Shinji drew near, clenched fists at his side.

"Don't hurt me!" it pleaded, its voice suddenly softer, more monotone.

"Shinji!" Kaji snapped, "That's not Rei!"

He stopped in his tracks, and feebly raised one fist.

"Shinji, you have to stop that thing! _Do it!" _

"I can't," he said quietly, his voice wavering. He lowered his hands and took a step forward. "Listen, you don't have to-"

The clone didn't let him finish. A solid wall of force, like a huge broom, swept them both across the floor and out the window. Shinji almost idly grabbed Kaji by the collar of his cape before he could fall again, and pulled them both back inside. The office was a ruin, and both Gendo and the clone were gone.

"Cute," Kaji muttered.

"Misato was with you, wasn't she?"

"I sent her to round up some support. Section 2 is a lost cause, but the rest of the staff will probably back us. You have to have a certain level of clearance before you find out about the ancient conspiracy. How did the UN go?"

"I ran into a little guy with a hat, and a big guy with a… freeze… gun."

Kaji looked at him sharply. "Shit. Let's go, there's probably a squad of hitters here already."

He started running for the door and Shinji kept pace with him easily. "Who are these people?"

"A little guy with a hat," Kaji panted, "doesn't narrow it down much. The one with the cryogenic weapon-"

"What?"

"Freeze gun. Big guy? Suit?"

"Like a diving suit," Shinji said.

"Victor Fries. He's one of their wetworks men, they send him to liquidate their assets when something goes wrong."

"Liquidate?"

"Murder."

Shinji's jaw tightened.

SSSSS

Ritsuko let out a shocked gasp as she turned and a giant in what could only be described as a diving suit walked into the room, each step a thumping stomp. The figure wearing the suit was shrouded in blue mist contained within a Plexiglas helmet, his eyes further hidden behind goggles. Servos and motors whirred as he lifted a huge gun of bizarre design, apparently meant to spray something, and aimed at her face.

"Doctor Akagi," he said in a flat, emotionless voice, "the samples of Kryptonian genetic material you've collected and your analyses. I require them."

The techs all stiffened, and Ritsuko glanced at them, lifting her fingers to wave them off. "They're not here."

"You're lying," the man in the suit said, one heavily gloved finger tightening on the trigger of the gun. "If I could feel emotion I might be moved by your bravery. Perhaps you do not value your own life." The gun swept around and aimed at Maya's head. "I think you may value hers."

Ritsuko stiffened. Maya's eyes, huge and liquid, met hers, and the girl's breaths of terror turned to mist in the air as the room suddenly grew colder. The man in the suit took another thumping step towards her, the gun almost touching her now. Ritsuko swallowed.

"I'm telling you the truth."

"Then you will tell me where they are."

"I don't-"

"You're wasting my time."

The barrel of the gun swept low and it roared. An arctic wind swept through the room and swirled like a nor'easter's fury. Maya let out a pained scream as the beam from the gun touched her left calf. She fell to the ground; writing in pain and grabbing at the thick sheath of ice that ran up her leg, past her knee. She let out a series of pained gasps, strangling another scream, and Hyuga grabbed her around the shoulders. Aoba stood to one side, his mouth working in silence, eyes wide.

The gun was still aimed at her. "Tell me now, or they die together."

"It's in Central Dogma," Ritsuko said hoarsely, "two levels below this one." she reached for a pad of paper and hurriedly scrawled out a long series of numbers. "My access codes. Take them."

He snatched the paper from her hand and then without comment or ceremony tromped out of the room.

SSSSS

Shinji heard a scream and froze, concentrated on it for a moment, and then burst through four floors of headquarters, creating a diagonal shaft in the process. He barely registered Kaji's sudden yelp of surprise. The floor outside Ritsuko's lab dented as planted both feet into it just in time to see the man in the diving suit step out into the hallway in front of a man in a top hat, sunglasses, and a black bodysuit. Fries stood next to the much smaller, slighter figure, who raised his cane in mocking salute. They both vanished in a sudden swirl of black.

He headed into the office.

He froze for a second, but only for a second. Gently, looking him in the eye, he moved Hyuga back, taking Maya in his own arms. He looked at her leg and focused, and twin beams of heat lanced out of his eyes, sweeping along the edges of the ice, shaving it off a bit at a time. Maya's stifled sobs turned into actual yelps of pain, and as he drew closer to her flesh he tapered off the effect until the only sign of it was the faint red light in his eyes and the rapidly melting ice around the girl's leg.

"This is bad," he said grimly. "I have to get you upstairs now, or you might lose your leg."

She nodded shakily, eyes vacant. "It hurts. _It hurts._"

The elevator was a little slow, so with one hand he tore the doors out and went up the other way.

SSSSS

"This place is a disaster," Misato said, sweeping her gaze around the ruins of the command center. Besides the destroyed terminals and the huge hole in the wall, the remaining walls and ceiling were all damaged, pockmarked by craters where they'd been struck by the various combatants. The floor under their feet groaned.

"My hair is a disaster," Asuka said angrily, peeling another thin streamer of mud-like substance out of her hair. "I need a shower."

Kaji appeared from the shadows, prompting a yelp from Misato and Asuka. Toji just grinned and shook his head.

"You have got to show me how to do that one day."

"Gendo and the clone are gone. I think they took a VTOL, but the security system has been hacked. I lost them at the airfield."

Misato sighed and crossed her arms. "_Damn._ At least by not sticking around he's proving our point."

Shinji walked into the room, a grim look on his face. He paused and surveyed the damaged, seemingly unmoved by it. No one spoke for a while, until Misato broke the silence.

"How's Maya?"

Shinji looked at the floor. "She's going to lose her foot."

"She'd still have it if you could think five minutes in front of your face," Kaji snapped.

Shinji looked at him in shock. He didn't say anything, just stood there, and seemed to sag a little. Asuka rushed to him, forgetting the clotted sludge in her hair as she did.

"Kaji…" Misato said angrily.

"Look at this place," he shouted, sweeping his hand around the room. "If he'd listened to me before this all started, this wouldn't have happened. It's going to get _worse_ before it gets better. You think these people care about someone like Maya? She's lucky Fries didn't out and out murder her to prove his point."

Toji decked him.

There was a moment of shock that froze everyone in the room, even Kaji himself who lay sprawled on the floor, his hand moving towards his face as if he didn't understand what had just happened.

"You _shut up,"_ Toji growled, pointing an accusing finger at Kaji. "That man is a _hero._ He has no idea what he can do or what his limits are, and he goes out and punches giant space monsters in the face. He took a nuking for us, man. We all owe him our lives a dozen times over, and he _apologizes_ to us for it."

Kaji was on his feet. "This is exactly what I don't need, stupid teenage hormones. You listen to me you little-"

"Stop it," Shinji said quietly.

He walked up to Kaji. "You're right. I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have ignored your advice because I was angry. I can't undo what's been done, but if I'm going to do something about it, I need your help. I need your knowledge and I need your expertise."

He looked around the room. "We may have our differences, but we all need to work together. Our enemies obviously already do. If we let them divide us, we've already lost."

He met Kaji's gaze again. He nodded grimly.

Batman and Superman shook hands.

"Hey," Misato said, "where's Fuyutsuki?"

"Here," the old man said cheerfully as he entered the room. "I thought it best if I avoid the brunt of the fighting. I was in my office."

Kaji looked at him, and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

SSSSS

Kozo Fuyutsuki had never been a Rolling Stones fan, and after six hours of listening to _Sympathy for the Devil_ on loop with a black bag over his head, he was beginning to detest Mick Jagger with a profound passion. He was pulled to his feet by his hands, bound behind his back, rather roughly, and it made him cough a breath of hot air against the inside of the bag.

"We're here!" the mad clown said in a song-song voice.

He was surrounded by sudden, paralyzing cold, a frozen wind that whipped around him and flapped the bag in his face like a flag, and he could practically feel the people around him clenching in the cold. The trip through the frozen air was mercifully brief, though, and soon he was, if not warm, at least warmer. He could feel a hard surface beneath his shoes- probably ice, by the cold that seeped up through them with each step.

There was a grinding sound, and he felt as much as saw light, and the warmth that came with it, spill across the surface of the bag over his head. He was pushed into a warmer space, and from the lack of echoes he could tell it was very large- it certainly didn't feel small. The ground beneath his feet sloped upwards and his breathing grew labored. Finally he stopped as he felt a tug on the rope around his hands.

The bag was yanked free, taking a bit of crusted blood from his split lip with it, and he blinked in the harsh light. He was in a hospital room, oddly enough, though one without windows. A man he didn't recognize stood next to him, a regal figure in a dark green cape over a business suit, tufts of graying hair at the sides and crown of his head from balding. He was lean, heavily tanned, and somewhere between thirty and fifty.

He gasped when he saw the person lying in the hospital bed in front of him. Covered in bandages, a pair of leg braces and dozens of monitoring patches, intravenous lines and, was Katsuragi. Nagataka Katsuragi, Misato Katsuragi's father, head of the ill-fated expedition that made first contact with Adam. His skin had turned and ashen gray and most of his hair, which had already been sparse, had fallen out. He opened his eyes, and they were too-red, as if every blood vessel in them had burst. His gaze locked on Fuyutsuki.

A shudder ran through him. "You're not Katsuragi," he said quietly.


	21. Great Red Dragon

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 21- Great Red Dragon

After a long, heavy silence, the man beside Fuyutsuki spoke in a dulcet, aristocratic whisper. "He has chosen you. It is a great honor."

Fuyutsuki turned slightly, glancing at the other man. There was something inhumanly calm and focused in his mere presence, as if the weight of great age had settled on his shoulders despite his apparent youth. The old professor had heard men spoken of as ageless before, but this was the first time he had seen it in truth; he could not have guessed the age of the person standing next to him based on his physique, but his eyes spoke of age, a deep resonant well of experience that even Fuyutsuki's own did not match.

"Who are you?"

The slap sounded like a gunshot in the quiet room. Fuyutsuki jerked at the ropes binding his wrists as he reflexively tried to reach for his stinging face. He turned back to the man in the cape and licked his lips. His upper lip had split again and oozed blood into his mouth, harsh and metallic.

"You are not given leave to speak in his presence." he turned to the door. "Bring him."

Two men rushed silently into the room, their eyes reverently cast downwards. They were dressed in simple tunics that had a distinct religious feel, giving Fuyutsuki the impression more of acolytes than thugs. They roughly took him by either arm and led him away from the bed. The caped man followed, pulling the door shut behind him with a soft click.

The acolytes led him down the hallway to an elevator. A short ride later, they drug him out into a long corridor, nearly lightless with featureless gray walls. The well-dressed man's heels clicked on the smoothly polished floor behind him, made of some indiscriminate stone. At the end of the hallway was another set of doors, much larger than the hallway itself. When they opened outwards, light spilled in from between them, and Fuyutsuki squinted involuntarily as he was pushed inside. The light was still weak, but stronger compared to the twilight of the hall passage.

He recognized a document storage facility immediately; he'd been in enough of them to feel instantly at home when he tasted the tang of utterly dry, odorless air, cooled and heavily filtered to prevent the inevitable degradation of documents. The room apparently doubled as some sort of sanctum or temple. It was large enough to have served as an auditorium, and ringed by artifacts displayed under columns of dim light. In the center was a round display, designed to permit one to walk its circumference and view ancient looking scrolls preserved under glass and backlit softly. The well-dressed man walked around them and the acolytes remained utterly silent, their gazes still focused on their feet.

"Do you know what these are? You are given leave to speak."

"I would guess they are the Dead Sea Scrolls."

"Just so." He ran a finger along the glass. "Though they are not the documents that are usually associated with that term."

Fuyutsuki looked at them levelly. "I am aware of the scrolls. If you mean to impress me with them, try something else."

"You are defiant," he smiled, "You will serve our purposes well. Tell me, do you know who _wrote_ these scrolls?"

"They are traditionally identified with a Jewish sect. The Essenes."

"Indeed. Do you know who translated them?"

Fuyutsuki sighed. "Is this a quiz? A variety of scholars, they-"

"I did."

Fuyutsuki rolled his shoulders, chafing at the rope bindings on his wrists. "What?"

"I began translating them in 1883, when-"

Fuyutsuki started. "What? That's impossible, you-"

"I am nearly seven hundred years old. Give or take. Perhaps it is five hundred. I forget so many things, having lived so long. As I was saying," he folded his hands behind his back, "I began the translation in 1883. It was not until the _remainder_ of the scrolls were recovered that I was able to complete it, however."

"I know that SEELE had some use for the scrolls, but in the end, they're just another version of the scriptures."

"Not these scrolls, professor," the man drew closer, his lips parting into a thin smile that revealed tiny, perfectly white teeth. "These are a different scripture entirely. They speak of the coming of messengers from on high, of trials and tribulations, of the _end of the world." _

"So does every scripture."

"This one is _right._ It holds the key to my grand design, the driving purpose behind six hundred years of planning."

Fuyutsuki looked around the room. "If you mean to detail your nefarious plan to me, shouldn't we be eating dinner? Or did you plan to aim a laser at my crotch?"

"I am telling you because it is the beginning of your ascension, professor. The Entity requires a strong host to root himself in this world. The fool Katsuragi was weak willed, yielding. Merely the first available vessel. We had intended the honor to fall upon Ikari, but he has betrayed us. You will stand in his place. Then, he will be among us. We will have the New God."

Fuyutsuki barked out a bitter laugh. "You think you can _control_ this?"

"Before we begin, however, I should rectify my rudeness. Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Ra's Al Ghul."

SSSSS

Shinji didn't know much about construction, or engineering, or schematics. He did know, however, that if he carried the I-beam in his hands to the top of the damaged skyscraper, it would save a lot of people a lot of trouble. A line of construction workers in hardhats and coveralls cheered and gave him a wave as he headed up, the length of steel balanced on his hands. He reached the top and slid the beam into place as a pair of workers moved gracefully along the exposed superstructure to secure it in place. Just as he was able to release it, Asuka appeared next to him. Where he sort of occupied the air, she flitted through it, always moving, lazily circling around him and rolling onto her back as if she couldn't contain the sheer joy of flying. It was infectious, and he found himself smiling back at her.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey."

"Ka-err Batman wants to see us," she said, then rolled into a dive. "Race you!"

He sighed, gave her a ten second head start, and made sure he was a fair distance away from the building before he broke the sound barrier. He skidded to a stop at the Geofront entrance a good fifteen seconds before Asuka dropped lightly to her feet beside him, panting.

"Showoff," she muttered.

"I work out," he shrugged.

"Do not," she scowled, waving to the guard in the booth beside the turnstiles that led down into the Geofront. The man stared at them for a moment over his paper, shook his head, and muttered something about teenagers.

Once through the security checkpoint, Asuka took off at a fast clip, leaping off the top stair. Shinji yelped in surprise and went after her, diving down the tunnel faster than the escalator would have permitted. The space was narrow, meant for a few people to stand abreast on the escalator, but neither of them minded. Shinji matched her pace and the slipped one arm around her waist. They landed in each other's arms and it took Shinji a moment to remember he was going somewhere.

They walked the rest of the way, down into the pyramid, which was now crawling with men in blue UN coveralls, high clearance workers from around the world who were rebuilding the exterior of the structure. Most of the remaining glossy black surface had been pulled up and replaced with white panels, at Misato's insistence. She'd somehow wheedled enough budget to, in her words, make the place a bit brighter, more befitting of its purpose. Fuyutsuki had helped her write her speech. It was Kensuke's idea to redecorate. In his words, the place looked like Mordor.

They found Kaji, in full Bat-regalia, standing in Gendo's office, near the ruins of the former commander's desk. He'd insisted on going through every inch of it before it was repurposed into the conference room for NERV's new command structure. Fuyutsuki had retained his position as sub-commander, per his own request, and his last act after relieving Gendo had been to appoint Misato temporary commander, and he was currently vigorously lobbying the United Nations to confirm the appointment despite her age, in light of her battle record.

Kaji looked around the room, then at Shinji. "You can see through things."

"Yes?"

Asuka's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, actually, I can see through most stuff."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Did you-"

He blushed furiously, "No, I mean, I wanted to but I didn't, besides-"

Kaji cleared his throat. "Do you mind?"

"Okay, what did you want me to look for?"

"Just look around. Tell me if you see anything."

Shinji shrugged and swept his gaze around the room, focusing-unfocusing his eyes. As he'd noticed before, the inside the room was coated with something, probably in the paint, that his sight couldn't actually penetrate. Except the floor, interestingly enough. There was actually a double layer, a perfectly transparent one over a coated layer. Roughly where the desk had been, there was a box of the same impermeable material, mounted in the floor. Shinji pointed to it.

"There's something in the floor. I can't see into it."

Kaji nodded and knelt down, roughly at the spot Shinji indicated. "Here?"

Shinji nodded, and Kaji drew a small glob of a waxy substance from his belt, stuck it on that spot, and inserted something like a small digital alarm clock into it. He immediately darted back against the wall.

Shinji let out a yelp and jumped in front of Asuka as the material exploded, sending up a small column of debris. Behind him, she crossed her arms and let out a huff of irritation.

"Oh please."

Kaji returned to the spot, cleared away some of the debris, and pulled out a small strongbox, and a rather nondescript one at that. He set it aside and peered into the opening, retrieved a flashlight, and looked around inside, then turned his attention to the box, slipping a set of lock picks out of one of the pouches on his belt. The lock proved to be only momentarily resistant and he slid the end away from the box and pulled out a worn looking journal, then stood up, thumbing through it.

"A book?" Asuka said. "That's _boring. _He didn't have a secret lair or something?"

"This whole place is his secret lair," Kaji said idly as he thumbed through the book. "This isn't his."

"Then whose is it?"

"Katsuragi," Kaji said curiously, folding the cover closed.

"What?" Misato said as she stepped into the room in her formal uniform. Kaji slipped the book behind his back and secure it there. She didn't seem to notice.

"What is it?"

"The new pilot is arriving in an hour. We've just gotten the airport open again."

Kaji headed towards the door. "I should change. It's better if Ryoji Kaji shows up for this." He glanced at Shinji. "Don't you have an intern?"

SSSSS

Rei Ayanami's concentration wavered as her eyes flicked open and she fell to the floor about a foot beneath her with a thump and a squeak of annoyance that most who knew her would not have expected in the slightest. Since she reawakened on Themiscyra she had been experimenting with the ability to generate AT-Fields, which she was always dimly aware she had possessed but was expressly forbidden from using. She had been reluctant to even consider it at first, having obeyed the Commander's orders for so long, but as Commander Katsuragi pointed out, she was now "the Commander" and Rei had "better follow her orders", and so she ended up sitting in the locker room. Or hovering, rather.

It was Pilot Makinami's entrance that disturbed her. She steadied herself on the wooden bench between the rows of lockers and bounced gracefully to her feet, then flipped her towel over her shoulder.

"Rei," Mari said, "you can fly! And you're naked! But you can fly!"

"Yes," Rei said warily, opening her locker to retriever her clothing.

"Can I fly?"

"No, Mari. You cannot fly."

"What if I'm naked? Does that help?"

Rei slipped into her uniform shirt and let out an annoyed sigh. "My nudity and my flying are not connected. Also, in a technical sense, I was hovering."

"That sucks," Mari said sullenly as she pulled out her plugsuit. "First I have to do this stupid synch test, and now everyone can fly except me."

"Technically," Rei shrugged her uniform jumper over her shirt, "only Shinji, Asuka, Toji and myself can fly."

"Oh. Well it's still not fair," Mari's plugsuit hissed as it retracted onto her body, "see you later!"

Rei shrugged as she stepped out into the hallway and immediately froze.

Standing in a black plugsuit was a slender boy with chalk white skin, silver-gray hair and dark crimson eyes that mirrored her own. She let out a tiny almost-gasp and blinked in surprise, until the boy bowed politely and she responded in kind. They stood in silence for a moment before she continued on her path, or tried to.

"Excuse me?" the boy almost whispered. "Are you Rei Ayanami?"

"Yes."

"I am Kaworu Nagisa. I have looked forward to meeting you."

"I see."

He cocked his head to one side. "You do not speak much, do you?"

"I speak when it is necessary."

"I must go. I am scheduled to perform a synchronization test. Will I see you later?"

"There is a high probability of it."

"Very well," he smiled. "I shall see you later, Ayanami."

Rei blinked, turned, and continued on her way. When she reached for the button for the elevator, a sudden snapping _pop_ of static electricity made her fingertip tingle, and she let out a tiny, almost inaudible squeak of alarm.

/\../\

One of the conveniences of being the _acting_ Commander of NERV was access to a private suite and shower on base. At Kaji's advice, Misato hadn't taken the one that Ikari himself had actually used, on the off chance that it had some sort of trap or monitoring device in it, but it was one of several- in the days before the Angel war began in earnest, there had been a great deal of funding flowing into NERV, and some of what was built under Tokyo-3 was quite ostentatious. After spending the entire day in her stupid dress uniform, Misato desperately needed a shower.

The new pilot was weirding her out. There was something up about that kid. For one thing, his records were like Rei's- a date of birth, the day after Second Impact in his case, foster parents' names, an address in Berlin. He'd apparently been raised there even though Asuka had never heard of him, and no one she knew had ever seen him before, either. If that wasn't enough, the kid was a red-eyed albino, again like Rei. That implied something strange, and led Misato not to trust him.

She let the water run cold for a second to wake herself up, desperately wished she had given up beer (stupid Shinji, stupid heat vision) and slipped into a robe. The suite she was using lacked some of the comforts of home and the familiarity of a bedroom piled with junk, car magazines and recyclables she was going to throw away eventually, but it had a bed and she needed a few hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, Kaji was there. She was about to deliver a serious tongue lashing when she realized he'd broken the door down and was huddled against one wall in the fetal position, clutching an old book against his chest. He hadn't changed out of the deliberately sloppy suit he'd had on when they went to receive Nagisa at the airport, and was rocking back and forth, lightly tapping his head against the wall.

"Kaji?"

He didn't answer her. She crouched down beside him.

"…Ryoji?"

"H-help me," he stammered.

She reached for the book. "What's that?"

His hand seized her wrist in a grip like a manacle. "Don't touch," he said, voice wavering, "don't read. Never read. Need a quiet place. Need quiet. Help me. _Please._"

She slid down the wall beside him and put an arm around him. "What's the hell is the matter? I've never seen you like this."

"Y-y-your father's journal," he stammered, his eyes unfocused. "Promise you'll never read it."

"What?" she sat up and reached for the book again, then drew back. "Why? What the hell is wrong?"

"Starts normal," he sounded a little calmer now. "Starts normal," his voice suddenly went high, "gets crazy. Experiments. Antarctica. He didn't write the last pages, someone else did, with his _hands."_

"C'mon," she said softly as she pulled the book from his hands and set it on the floor. "It's okay. It'll be okay."

"No, it won't," he whispered as he buried his face in her shoulder. "There's an equation. An Anti-Life Equation."

SSSSS

Ritsuko sat back from the microscope and rubbed at the bridge of her nose, sighing as she did. Hyuga walked into the lab, carrying a stack of reports, staring at the floor all the while. He set them down and took a step back, out of her field of vision.

"How long has it been since you slept?"

She took a sip of cold coffee and waved him off. "I have work to do."

"What is that?" he said, indicating the microscope.

"A circuit board. Shinji found it at the UN, he said the delegates were all wearing them around their heads."

"What's it do?"

"I'm not sure yet. It has some sort of transmitters built in to it, one to receive and one to broadcast, but not on the same frequency. I've only ever seen anything remotely like this in the A-10 clips the pilots wear."

She took the stack of reports started thumbing through the first one, a detailed diagnostic of Unit-02. It took her a moment to notice that Hyuga wasn't leaving.

"What?"

"Maya wants to see you."

"Why?" she said, more harshly than she'd meant to. She could practically feel him shrink back. When had she started thinking of her subordinates as kids? She felt old.

"It's not your fault."

She let out a long sigh. She was expecting this sooner or later. "If I'd just given it up when he'd asked, they wouldn't have had to amputate her foot. That sounds like it's my fault."

"You can't blame yourself for-"

"She looks up to me. She's here because of me. I recruited her into this insanity. What the hell was I thinking?"

"I-"

The warning sirens cut him off. The MAGI had detected a blue pattern. An Angel was coming.

SSSSS

_Commander_ Katsuragi virtually erupted onto the bridge, dressed in a tightly bound terrycloth bathrobe and a pair of slippers. At almost the same time, Ritsuko, breathing heavily, wheeled her chair to Maya's station, wordlessly taking a position beside Hyuga and Aoba. Her hands trembled slightly as she logged in to the terminal and she visibly strained to control it.

"Status report," Misato demanded, crossing her arms over her body.

"The object is in a geostationary orbit above Tokyo-3," Hyuga reported. "Section 1 reports 91% of civilians accounted for in shelters. The Angel has not acted aggressively yet."

"What's our status?"

"I suggest making Unit-02 primary for this mission," Ritsuko turned around slightly. "Keep Unit-01 on standby. Nagisa in Unit-00, if we need a third. The Prototype has been buggy lately."

Misato nodded, and looked at the screen. "Pilots?"

"Mari and Kaworu are already in place for a synch test. We're moving them to the cages now. Asuka is on her way to Unit-01."

"Superman? Green Lantern?"

"Here," Shinji appeared at her side in his costume. "Sorry I'm late. To… umm, the Green Lantern was attending to personal business. He's on his way."

"Your orders, Commander?"

Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki entered, looking at his watch. "Sorry. I got a bit lost."

"Ideas, Professor?"

"Well," he said nervously, we could-"

Ritsuko looked up at her. "We need to be careful. Sending an Eva up to see what happens hasn't been our best strategy in the past."

"I could go up and take a look at it," Shinji suggested. "They usually don't attack me unless I hit them first."

Misato nodded. "Wait," she pulled a lump of flesh-colored material out of her pocket. "We made this for you. It'll allow you to talk on the same frequency as the Evas."

He nodded, took it in his ear, and darted off, heading out the rear of the command center and out the nearest exit.

"Put it up on the screen," Misato ordered, hoping it would actually work. The repairs had been a bit hasty.

Thankfully, the massive screen flickered to life, displaying the afternoon sky and, in the distance, the creature itself, spread across the sky like stationary lightning, formed into a pattern not unlike a pair of wings centered on a single, central point. It looked almost like an error in the display until the overlay confirmed it as the source of the blue pattern. Shinji appeared on screen, a tiny blue dot against the reddening sky.

"I see it," he said, his voice oddly distorted through the speakers. "It's… tubes, a bunch of tubes all attached to a core. Should I go after it?"

Misato tapped her finger against her chin. "We don't know its capabilities yet, is there anything you can-"

The Angel suddenly grew a hundred times more luminous, like a second sun in the sky. A beam of light, like an enormous floodlight, shone from its center. Where it struck, the buildings and cars shone brightly, as in the middle of the day, but there was no other apparent effect, at least until Shinji started to scream.

"Unit-01 _Launch!"_ Asuka shouted, her voice breaking over the speakers. "Put me up there! Now!"

Ritsuko shook her head. "The risk of contamination is too great. Send up Unit-02."

"Shut up!" Asuka snapped, "_Launch me!"_

"Launch Unit-02," Misato said, her voice even and flat. "Mari, raise your AT-Field to maximum and get him back down the launch tube as fast as you can."

"But-" Asuka started.

"Calm down, Asuka."

"I'm on it," Mari broke in, her voice surprisingly grave. Her face appeared in the lower corner of the main display, and beside it the readings on Unit-02 as the launcher carried it skyward until the machine sprang forth from a launch tube about six blocks from where Shinji hung in the air, and immediately broke into a sprint as Mari leaned forward in her seat in concentration. The Evangelion crossed the distance in a few seconds, put one huge hand around Shinji and raised the other in a gesture of defiance.

Shinji's scream, reduced automatically to a smaller, tinnier sound by the MAGI, died away to a sort of agonized gurgle.

"I've got him," Mari said. On screen, her head snapped to her left, towards the Angel. "Wait, something's happening."

"Get back here. _Now._" Misato replied, unconsciously tapping her foot.

"Roger, I…" Mari trailed off as her eyes went wide, and a light filled her plug. The internal view on the screen went to snowy static just as she began to scream. "No! _Get out of my head!"_

"Launch me, please," Kaworu said quietly, his face appearing on screen.

"I don't know-" Ritsuko started.

He cut her off. "I can help. Please launch me."

"Do it," Misato snapped.


	22. Clothed in the Sun

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara and DC Comics, respectively. No infringement of copyright or trademark is intended. This work will be removed from the internet at the request of the owners of the aforementioned intellectual property.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 22- Clothed in the Sun

Toji was standing in the doorway with flowers in his hand when he heard Hikari's voice break as she whispered, "We're leaving."

He stepped inside. He was in his customary jogging suit and he'd slipped a glove over his right hand, and had gotten by, so far, by telling people it was a prosthetic. Hikari's family lived in a small home, like most of the members of NERV's staff with multiple children. Her father was an administrator- he worked at a desk, not even in the Geofront proper, and had only ever seen Evangelions from afar, Superman on a television screen.

As he set the flowers down on the small table beside the door and slipped off his shoes, he felt suddenly like an intruder in a foreign world he no longer understood. A few weeks ago he was a normal high school student, and then all of this insanity came crashing into his life- first the disaster with Unit-03, then fighting beside Asuka when they retook the base. In his new world of marvels, he'd forgetten the simple fact that Hikari's dad had spent over a week huddled in a cold, poorly lit shelter with her sisters, Nozomi and Kodama, eating rationed meals and sleeping in cots.

His sister, of course, was overjoyed by the Ring. Her big brother was a superhero. She was going to see him on TV with Superman fighting monsters and bad guys. His father hadn't taken it so well. An explanation, limited as it could be, and a demonstration of his powers led only to the old, bald man sitting in their tiny apartment saying "don't get hurt," as if he meant to say "don't hurt me."

Now, this.

"We're moving," she clarified, staring at the floor.

She was dressed simply in a house dress and an apron, which was a little dusty. The apartment was full of boxes, some open, some taped shut, many stacked on top of one another. What little personal touches had once marked the place as familiar to him were gone. When they first started dating, he had enjoyed coming here- there was so much laughter and life in this house with Hikari's sisters and her father, a thin, spare little man who always wore a tie and treated the happiness of his daughters like some kind of an art, putting the whole of his person into it.

"Why?" he said, his voice a little higher than he'd wished.

He didn't realize he was standing on the floor until her father rested a hand on his shoulder. "It isn't anything to do with you, young man. You will always be welcome in my home, but… no job is worth this. I know that it isn't your fault that Hikari was missing, but after her mother… I can't…" he trailed off.

"I understand, sir," he said quietly. "I… should go."

"Wait," Hikari said, and the old man suddenly found himself needed elsewhere.

She slipped her hand in his and smiled. His real hand.

Until she touched the ring, then she shivered a little.

"I'll call you," he said, slipping out of her grip.

"Bye," she said weakly, turning so he wouldn't see her cry.

He slipped his shoes back on, closed the door, and left the flowers behind as he walked out into the street. He thrust his hands into his pockets angrily, and started to walk, with no particular destination in mind. He looked up and out of the corner of his eye happened to catch flitting impressions whipping through the air, like mosquitoes just close enough to see. Shinji and Asuka, probably. They liked to fly together.

He let out a ragged sigh and dialed Kensuke's number.

"Hey man," Kensuke said brightly. He was typing something in the background.

"'suke," Toji said brightly, scanning the horizon as he did. "You wanna hit the arcade later?"

"Nah, I can't," he said a little dejectedly. "Mari's synch test will be done in like an hour, and we're going out."

"I still can't believe that you and-"

"We have mutual interests."

"Obviously. See 'ya."

"Yeah." Kensuke said distractedly. More clicking.

He hung up.

He didn't know why he was upset. After all, he could fly at mach six within the atmosphere under his own power, according to the Ring. It's not like he couldn't just go visit her. See, Toji wasn't a dumb jock, though. Toji was smart. He understood things like implication and subtext. Implications and subtexts like "I want my daughters to live in a safe world, and the one you're part of isn't safe."

He was a little surprised to run into Rei Ayanami. He'd wandered most of the way up to the hills around the high school and found her standing not far from the huge furrow Unit-01 had dug out when it landed there during that battle. It felt like a million years ago. She was seated in the grass, and half a dozen small rocks were orbiting her head. Occasionally, tiny hexagons of orange light flickered into being under them and their motion wobbled a bit.

"Watcha doin?" Toji said amiably.

"I am practicing."

"Whatcha practicing?"

"Using my abilities."

"Oh. What's up with the rocks? Is that all you can do?"

He eyes slitted open in apparent annoyance, and she glanced to her left. A tree had fallen in one battle or another, and lay up along the curve of the hill, a root bowl at its base still coated in earth. It was good size. The pebbles dropped to the ground with tiny slaps and as Rei focused on the tree, it gently lifted off the ground, creaking and groaning as it did. Some rodent squealed in a anger and ran out of the branches, departing along some hidden path up the hill. The tree lifted a good ten feet up in the air, hovered lazily for a moment, and then Rei apparently became bored with it and slammed into the ground with a meaty thud that sent a flight of birds flapping and chirping into the distance.

"Oh," he said.

"I also have a limited ability to fly. I do not like it."

"So what's up with the rocks?"

"I have decided my abilities are more useful if I have some fine control over them."

"Huh."

Apparently she'd tired of the conversation, as she closed her eyes again and the rocks began to drift up off the ground and circle her head again. Without warning, her eyes went wide and the rocks dropped. He felt a sudden impression of energy all around him, and she fixed her gaze on the sky.

"We should leave," she said flatly. "There is an Angel coming."

Then, the alarm went off.

SSSSS

"Finally," Misato almost snapped as Toji and Rei walked into the command center.

Reflexively, Toji formed a ring of energy around himself at his feet that swept upwards, casually replacing his track suit with his Lantern uniform, and no matter how many times he did it, there was still an eeriness to it, an odd-out-of-place-ness. He stood stiffly, while Rei retained her usual relaxed indifference.

"What's the situation?" Toji said in his most martial voice.

"I just sent up the new pilot in Unit-0. Mari and Shinji have been incapacitated by that thing's beam. Asuka is going to murder me if I don't let her go charging to the rescue."

"_Slowly_!" Asuka voice boomed over the speakers.

"I'm going up," Toji nodded and turned.

"Wait," Ritsuko called.

He blinked. "Why?"

"We don't even know how Shinji's defenses actually work, but this thing cut right through them. How do you know you'll do better?"

He stopped. She had a point.

"So what do we do?"

"I am handling the situation," Kaworu said softly.

The rails from the launch tube slammed upwards, followed in short order by the Eva itself. As Unit-00 surfaced, the light from the Angel wavered, as if it were unsure of what to do with so many available targets. Kaworu calmly walked the Eva beside Unit-02, and his eyes closed in concentration. He moved his hands forward on the controls slightly, and the Eva's arms raised.

"I am unfolding my AT-Field."

A hexagon of light appeared over his head and blurred outwards, expanding to cover both Evangelions. Mari suddenly fell silent, and the static from the camera in her plug resolved into a view of her apparently sleeping peacefully, her head lolling against one side of the seat.

"Incredible," Ritsuko said to no one in particular. "How the hell is his field that strong? The umbilical should be melting."

Shinji groaned, and Misato let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Shinji? You awake?"

"Y-yeah," he said shakily. He was moving in Unit-02's hand, leaning against of the giant fingers.

"I require assistance," Kaworu said flatly, his eyes opening just a bit. "I cannot hold her back forever."

"Shinji," Misato looked back up at the screen. "Can you pull Unit-02 back to the launch rails?"

"Yeah," he panted.

On screen, Unit-02, shuddered, and when with a great grinding sound the Eva began sliding backwards. Dust and debris trailed up from its feet as Shinji pulled it back onto the pad. He flew around before it in a drunken arc and pushed it until the shoulder pylons fell into the clamps. Misato nodded and the Eva dropped out of sight, Shinji with it.

"Kaworu," Misato commanded, "get to the next launch point. We'll bring you down next."

SSSSS

As Unit-02 settled at the base of the launch track, Shinji lighted on the Eva's shoulder, then made his way to the emergency release. He pulled the armor plate free, found the handle, twisted and pulled, and with a hiss of steam and released pressure Unit-02's head slumped forward, the back panels twisting open to allow the plug to eject. Once it was free, he opened the plug's hatch, went inside, and picked Mari up in a fireman's carry.

He landed with her in the cage proper, on the retractable bridge in front of Unit-01. The purple behemoth's head tracked him as he came in, rushing towards the oncoming medical recovery team. With their help, he bonelessly laid Mari's limp body on a gurney. The nurses took off her glasses and A-10 clips and wheeled her away. Shinji sank to his knees as Asuka ejected from Unit-01 and came bounding down the ladder in three quick steps, her hair slick against her neck with LCL.

"What happened?" she said, her voice strained, as she sat down beside him.

"It was in my head."

SSSSS

"He's down," Hyuga announced as the doors to launch pad 27 slid shut with a clanking bang.

"Status on the Angel?" Misato replied evenly, barely containing the relief in her voice.

"It's moving," Aoba said, his voice straining a little. "The pattern is changing definition. It's going to do something."

The Angel's luminous body folded into a single bright point and it lanced down out of the sky, a streamer of light trailing out behind it. It slammed into the streets with a puff of smoke, dust, and debris, and the camera became fuzzy for a moment from the vibration. The exact point of impact was behind one of the armaments buildings.

"What happened?"

"It hit the armor plating. It's digging."

"How fast?"

"I can't say, it- hold on, the field resonance is changing, it- _holy shit!"_

Light. There was light everywhere.

SSSSS

Shinji woke up with a start. He sat bolt upright in a bed in a darkened room on his broad bed. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, like a daub of bright ochre on the edge of a blackened canvas. He was groggy, and considered his surroundings for a moment. Everything was so familiar, and yet so distant. The red-purple grass wagged in the summer breeze as a gnarlack swooped low over the field, a keening wail of lonliness sounding the morning. His father mused that all creation pined for completion and companionship, and the cry of gnarlac was left to Krypton as a gift of the ancient progenitors to remind us all of the value of companionship.

Asuka rolled over beside him, her red-gold hair shining in the newborn light. She smiled beatifically, the neural connection clips she wore in her hair blinking faintly. She reached out and stroked his arm gently.

"What's wrong, Kal?"

"I had a strange dream," he said. "I dreamed I was someone named Shinji… something strange was happening. "

"It was just a dream, my love. Go back to sleep."

SSSSS

Misato snapped out of her reverie with a start. The sound of boiling water hissing into steam spurred her. She turned down the soup, muttering to herself as the spillover slacked and stopped. She hated cleaning this stove. Fortunately, the soup was almost done. Kaji would be home soon. Penny, her dachshund/corgi mix, whined at her side for a treat. She sighed and tossed him a scrap of meat from the soup.

"If you keep doing that he'll just keep begging," Kaji said as he scooped her from behind in a hug. She pressed back into his embrace, covering his arms with hers, and forgot all about the soup again.

"You're home early," she said, turning her head to press her cheek to his.

"Slow day at the office," he said. "Say. We've got an hour or so before the kids get home…"

/\../\

Kaji picked his way through the rubble, an armful of food in his hand. The Valentine Treaty had ended the war, but not the struggle. His mother was waiting for him, waiting for their rations. Sighing, he passed a ruined, burned out car. It was only by luck that they had managed to be in the mountains when the Impact came, and the ensuing chaos was… difficult. Thankfully, they made it to a refugee camp and there were clean, safe, and relatively happy.

He heard a sob and stopped.

Behind him, seated next to a pile of old bricks, a girl about his age sobbed into her hands. Her hair, so dark black it shone blue in the twilight at the end of the day, bobbed as she shook, tears streaming between her fingers. Gingerly, he set the food bag down and sat down beside her.

"A… are you okay," he said, his adolescent voice cracking.

"I'm scared," she sniffed. "I can't find my daddy."

"Come with me," he said, "I'll help you. What's your name?"

"M-Misato," she said.

He put his arm around her and led her forward, towards the safety of his mother's tent.

"It's okay. I won't let anything happen to you."

\/\/

Asuka ran down the path, her high heels held in one hand. Bouncing with excitement, she rang the doorbell again and again. Finally, the door opened. She fell into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly and was embraced in return.

"I had to tell you!" she beamed, "Shinji asked me to marry him!"

"What did you say?" her mother asked, pulling back from the embrace without releasing her daughter. Her bright blue eyes beamed with promise.

"I said yes! What did you think I would say?"

"Asuka," her mother said softly. "What about your post-doctoral fellowship?"

"It's okay," she said, "Shinji's father offered me a post at NERV! I'm going to be the project head of the next generation Eva series!"

"You should be," her mother beamed, leading her into the kitchen. "You practically wrote the book on piloting, after all. The Angel War would never have been won without you."

"Oh, Mama, you praise me too much," she said, blushing.

There was a doll, a little raggedy doll with yarn hair and button eyes, sitting on a high-backed chair in the parlor.

Asuka had always hated that doll.

|O|

Toji strode across Tokyo-3 in his Evangelion Unit-03, the ground shaking beneath their feet. Like a titan of legend, his mighty war machine gleamed black and gold in the noonday sun, hefting the progressive greatsword he carried to battle.

Hikari's image popped up in the corner of his vision.

"Let's do this!"

He smiled, and charged

SSSSS

"Stand! Bow! Sit!" the class representative as Ms. Hikari Suzahara entered the room. She beamed at her students, basking in the glow of admiration from the girls and playfully bashful at the quiet, awkward adolescent lust from the boys.

"Let's begin with the quadratic equation," she said. "Who can…"

SSSSS

Ritsuko tapped-tapped-tapped on her keyboard, entering commands into the MAGI. Naoko Akagi, her mother, put a hand on her shoulder.

"You learn so fast," she mused. "Sometimes I think you're better at this than I am."

Ritsuko took a sip of her coffee and smiled.

SSSSS

Hyuga sighed, falling back from his terminal, a sheen of sweat on his face.

"Thank God for you, Hyuga," Misato purred, her hand on his shoulder. "Without your quick thinking, we would be lost."

"I just did my job," he said sheepishly, blushing at the smiles of the other bridge techs.

Misato leaned over him, her prodigious breasts straining against the buttons of her dress uniform jacket. Why wasn't she wearing a shirt under it?

He decided he didn't care.

"You're so smart and strong," she said as she slid into his lap. "Just hold me please."

SSSSS

Aoba floated in an inky black void.

"Eh," he said.

SSSSS

Maya sighed, leaning back from her terminal. As always, she was alone, the others having punched out as soon as their shift ended. Poor, poor Maya. Without her the whole place would have come crashing down, and she knew it.

Her chair spun suddenly. Dr. Akagi pressed her into it by the shoulders and slid into her lap, straddling her.

"Dr. Akagi!" she said with a start.

Akagi leaned in and planted a soft, warm kiss on her lips.

"Maya, I have something to tell you," she whispered, pulling Maya to her in embrace.

SSSSS

Kensuke pulled his heavy helm from his head and let it fall to the earth. His lacquered armor was stained with the blood of a dozen enemies. His might katana Foe-Render had taken many lives that day. The fortress of the Dark Lord Gendo had fallen, and he and his men stood triumphant beneath the banner of the Mourning Crane once again. He strode into the camp of his victorious generals, who cheered and raised their scabbarded swords in salute. The lovely Princesses Ayanami and Makinami clung to his arm, beaming with joy at her rescue.

"We've won again!" he declared, "That is good! But what is best in life?"

"A fleet horse, the open steppe, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair," one of his generals announced, his face serene.

"Wrong!" Kensuke cried. "Conan! What is best in life?"

The might barbarian, his Cimmerian features as out of place among his easterly comrades as his rusty chain mail, wore a grim mask of tightly controlled fury.

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women."

Several nods greeted him.

"That is good," said Kensuke. "That is good."

SSSSS

Mari was very sad, and her shoes were dirty. She sniffed back a sudden, shuddering sob and ran the sleeve of her uniform sweater under her nose. She had been sitting in the waiting room for six hours, six long hours since her father had picked her up at school. Normally, she would have been happy to leave, even during nap time, but today her father was sad. Mommy was sick and had to go to the hospital, and he kept talking to doctors with funny accents and weird names. She had to sit, now, by herself while he talked to one of the doctors alone. She didn't know why, but she thought that was bad.

The chair was uncomfortable, and the whole place had an eerie smell, like disinfectant and air freshener covering up something worse, something subtle and cloying that layered itself over everything in the place. There were magazines on the table. She didn't like them.

She looked up when daddy came through the door. He was a lean man, a little old to have a daughter so young, and they weren't close. He sat down next to her and touched the tips of his fingers together, his whole body bent over like there was a weight on his shoulders. He said nothing for a while, and the clock on the wall went tick-tick-tick.

Finally, he broke into a quiet smile. "It's okay, Mari, she's going to be okay. We'll be home in a few hours. She'll be so happy to see you smile."

SSSSS

Rei started in surprise when, quite unexpectedly, everyone around her dropped into a deep sleep. She managed to catch Commander Katsuragi, who was surprisingly heavy. She picked the woman up easily, however, but decided to lower her to the ground to avoid allowing her neck to rest at a potentially dangerous angle. At the same time, she reached out with her AT-Field and cushioned the other's falls, so that Toji and Fuyutsuki lay down gently on the polished floor. The others, fortunately, had mostly been seated.

There was an uncomfortable pressure on the back of her head, like soft music trying to catch her attention. The sudden bright light that infused the room was decidedly unpleasant. Around her, the screens and terminals began to wink out, and she heard a rumbling over their heads as the Angel continued to dig into the ground. She focused her own AT-Field and the sudden pressure abated.

"Hello," a calm voice said over the loudspeakers. "Can anyone hear me?"

Rei descended to the second level on an emergency ladder and slipped one of the technician's headsets on. "This is Ayanami."

"Hello, Ayanami. This is Pilot Nagisa. What is happening?"

"Everyone is asleep. I see that you are not."

"Nor are you."

"Indeed. What should we do?"

"We must destroy the Angel. I can relaunch you from here."

"I would appreciate that."

She slid Hyuga's hands away from his console, and then examined it for a moment. The launch commands were deceptively simple, she was sure. She typed in what she thought was the correct sequence and then stood back.

"Did that work?"

"The pressure in the plug has increased."

"Oh. I apologize."

"No need, it is tolerable. Please try again."

She repeated the commands, slightly differently this time. There was a satisfying rumble somewhere off to her left as the carriage launched the Evangelion back to the surface.

"How are you able to resist the effect?"

"I cannot say."

The screen was still static. The light grew brighter, and the pressure came back. She felt something, like a wisp of air sliding along the back of her head.

_Why do you send the destroyer? This is not as foretold. Where is she that rideth upon the Red Dragon?_

She looked around the room. "Who is this?"

"Ayanami?" Nagisa said. "Hold, please, I am engaging it."

_I offer you a gentler end than the others._

"We do not wish to die."

_You do not understand what will happen if you do not._

"Ayanami?" Nagisa said again. "I will not let you die. Stay calm."

"I am calm," she said, her voice growing ever so slightly heated.

_No_, the tiny voice said, _I have to end this, you don't understand._

The people around her began to stir as the light and sound faded, and Rei let out a small breath of relief as the monitors began to function once again. The huge screen came up, and she could see Unit-00 approaching the Angel. The creature had unfolded into a spider-like profusion of luminous tubes arranged around the central core. The effect had faded as it raised an AT-Field to protect itself from the Eva. Kaworu drew the progressive knife and advanced.

As he drew near, the creature let out a high pitched shriek and leapt at him out of the crater it had formed when it hit the surface. It latched on to his Eva and he grappled with it. When he unfurled his AT-Field, the Angel's own all but vanished, and there was a series of loud cracks and pops as the Eva's hands crushed long, glassy limbs in the process of forcing them out of the way. The thing bled in all colors, luminous like the innards of a light stick. Kaworu forced it to the ground, raised the prog knife, and plunged it into the thing's middle. It died with a single stroke.

_I just gave you what you wanted._

Beside her, Hyuga awoke. He looked around the room in a panic, then his eyes fixed on hers.

"Rei?" he said.

He looked around some more, at his hands, and, curiously, at his lap. "Oh," he said, his voice breaking. "Oh."

SSSSS

Fuyutsuki could not, honestly, say long he had been in the cell. He had no room to stand, and just barely enough to sit, but nowhere near enough lie down. The ceiling of his chamber could suddenly erupt in harsh bright light, harsh enough to make him force his eyes shut, or he would be bathed in total darkness. There had been no food so far. Whatever they did, it was at random intervals, most likely so that he would not be able to tell how much time had passed. He only knew that he'd passed out a few hours ago, or so he thought, when a sickly-sweet gas flooded in around him and stole consciousness from him with surprising ease.

After seemingly no time passed at all, he awoke to find his right hand in intense pain, swathed in bandages that immobilized his fingers. His other hand had been similarly wrapped, but apparently to keep him from scratching at his right. He tried his teeth, but when he thought he'd broken one on the wrapping he gave up and tried to relax. The odd proportions of the chamber forced him to half-lay against one wall, and his back was beginning to throb. His hand burned and he could swear he felt something moving, tugging at sutures on his palm that lit up with tiny flares of pain with each twitch.

Then, the gas came again.

He woke this time seated on an uncomfortable metal chair. His hands were bound behind his back, so that he could not lean forward, and the back of the chair dug into his back, forcing him to arch it slightly and enhance the throbbing from his sore muscles. The room he was in looked like a police interrogation room, to the point of there being a table in front of him with donuts, just out of reach, on a sterling silver plate. They were all frosted pink, with sprinkles.

Seated across from him was a dead man.

It was as if a hanged corpse had been cut down, stood up, and walked into the room with him. Tall and gaunt, he, or _it_, was dressed in western preachers' clothes, a long coat and a broad brimmed hat. It wore a leather bag over its face, shading barely perceptible eyes that gleamed in their own darkness. The bag had been tied around its throat with a dirty, ragged rope bound into a noose that dangled over a linen smock that could have been buried in the earth. It leaned forward, and folded corpse-white hands on the table in front of it, and looked into his face.

"Don't worry, Professor," it said in a harsh rasp, "I'm your doctor. Tell me, how do you feel?"


	23. Fourth Beast

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara, DC Comics, and Jack Kirby. Hail to the King, baby.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 23- Fourth Beast

There was something appropriate to the fluttering flight of bats that took off from the buttressed tower of Lorenz Keel's estate outside Berlin, some ninety miles from the NERV facility there. The night was clear, and as always in post-Impact German, crisp without being properly cool. Someone standing on the grounds of Keel's estate might have reported seeing a giant bat lurking along the roof of the manor house, a great creaking stone edifice that spoke of age, wealth, and worldly power.

Kaji expected little resistance. The United Nations had already bungled a chance to arrest Keel after Shinji's announcements at the General Assembly. After his accusation, the members of the Committee, a higher echelon special group within the UN, had been expected to sort of cordially surrender themselves, as per the course for their sort. Of course, only a few low ranking members with little actual knowledge of the committee's activities were actually in custody.

He dropped down onto the balcony outside Keel's study, opened the relatively crude lock, and slid inside. He made his entrance through a set of massive floor to ceiling windows, aimed such that the sunrise would illuminate the occupant. Close to the windows was a huge antique desk. It had been raided, of course, the drawers now gone. Once, this room had been elegant, a place for everything and everything in its place. The walls to either side of the window were lined with shelves that had once housed an expensive and eclectic collection of rare books, manuscripts, and other materials, most of it esoteric or religious in nature. What hadn't been seized now lay on the floor, or stacked in overpacked boxes strewn about the Persian carpet.

When they came for him, Lorenz Keel and his retainers were dead. The staff were the lucky ones. They'd all been flash frozen to death. Keel was a different matter. The other man had been torn out of his chair and laid out on the floor and beaten savagely. There was another difference between Keel's death and those of his servants.

Someone had put a smile on his face.

Kaji drew a flashlight from his utility belt and scanned the room. The UN men had found nothing of any use, but that hadn't surprised them. They were, by and large, unaware of what to look for. Kaji expected to find little or nothing himself, but he had to see, to observe. The very fact that Keel had been liquidated spoke volumes, and the manner of it said even more. He tapped his chin in thought, standing over the place where Keel had been found.

He'd told Shinji they sent Fries out for quick liquidations, which was both true, and somewhat ironic, given the term. When they sent _him_, it was to send a message, to terrify their enemies. He remembered a line from Bruce's journal. When they wanted to scare each other, his enemies told Joker stories.

He took a walk around the perimeter of the room. Something caught his eye. There was a yellow legal pad lying next to one of the boxes. He picked it up running one gloved finger along the edge. In a neat hand was written a single word: Equation. Beneath that, a phone number had been scrawled. He recognized the country code as Germany. He tore the paper from the pad and slipped into an empty pouch as he heard a thump somewhere in the house, and retreated to the shadows.

Victor Fries had little in the way of stealth. His quick exits were the work of Shade, one of the strike team that had attacked the Geofront and taken the samples from Akagi's lab. Kaji worked around behind him silence as he trudged into the room and swept his goggled eyes in a slow circle, the empty shelves and old desk now illuminated by the faint blue glow of the lights built into his cooling suit. As he moved, Kaji tossed several small speakers into the corners of the room. Each was connected to a microphone built into his cowl, and when he activated them, it would make his voice appear to originate from several directions at once.

"Hello, Victor."

Fries stopped, and checked something on his gun. "Your predecessor would have disabled me by now, Batman."

He made sure to move again, in case Fries could have spotted him somehow. He took a position nearer the door. "I read your file. I can't believe you're helping these people."

"Your attempts to throw me off guard with psychological banter are futile," Fries rumbled. "My allegiance to Instrumentality is obvious. An eternity in a frozen hell, trapped in a world I can see but never touch? I would embrace Instrumentality gladly in exchange for that."

He mounted one of the bookshelves, crouched along the top. Fries was studying the other side of the room, seeking him there.

"You've been lied to."

"Does it matter? In the end, the whole world will know my misery. That is enough."

Fries rounded on him and opened up with his gun. Pure cold lanced out and swept along the bookshelves. Kaji leapt away just in time as they toppled forward and shattered with a rumbling crash, blocks of ice sliding across the carpet. He rolled into a crouch and drew a batarang on pure instinct, holding it high above his head to throw.

Fries was dangerous but he was slow; his suit was cumbersome and despite its heavy armor plating and strength-enhancing servos, it had a number of weak spots. He tossed the weapon at once of them. Its scalloped edge bit into one of the tubes running from the coolant tanks on Fries' back and bit into it. Coolant hissed out, surrounding Fries in a cloud as he turned.

It was just the distraction he needed. He slipped out the way Fries had come in, back through the house. If Fries found himself in any real danger he'd signal for help, and someone who could tear Kaji apart with ease would come crashing through one of the walls, or materialize in the room with them. He kept to the dark, secure in the prize he'd acquired. He found a convenient window, slid it open, and headed out through it. Like most buildings that long predate climate control, Keel's estate had huge doors and windows to permit air to circulate in warmer times, better times.

Once he was far enough away from the estate proper, he paused, drew the paper, and dialed the number. A café in Berlin answered the phone. He made an apology in German for dialing the wrong number, hung up, and started on his way back to the car. Once he'd arrived he picked up the one Bruce left here in Germany. It was less conspicuous. No matter what happened, he had a feeling he should swing by New Jersey before heading back to Tokyo, and pick up the Mark XIII.

SSSSS

Ritsuko had finally gotten the device Shinji brought back from the UN disassembled, but was at something of an impasse. Not helping her was that Maya was there. Absurdly, they were both on crutches, which leaned against the desk a few feet away. Both of them sat on wheeled office chairs, and used them to get around the lab. In time, Maya might be able to walk normally- the doctors got lucky, and managed to save half her foot, meaning she would need only a limited prosthetic.

The injuries to Ritsuko's own leg would leave her unable to walk very far or very fast without need of a cane for the rest of her life. She had never been proud of her leg, but her left calf was now ugly and twisted, broken in several places when Unit-03 destroyed the experimental command center. She'd given up her customary silk stockings for a pair of official NERV sweat pants. She hated them.

She also wondered who decided there should be official NERV sweat pants.

"So what does it do?" Maya said, looking over her shoulder.

"It works like an A-10 clip. The nerve clips allow the pilot's brain to wirelessly communicate with the Evangelion, transmit signals. This does the same thing, but it's more of a one way connection. Anyone wearing this on their head would be receiving whatever signals it did, translated into their own thoughts."

"That's kinda creepy," Maya said as she wheeled over to Ritsuko's desk. "What would someone do that for?"

"Plant suggestions. Influence decisions. Ever had a thought pop into your head?"

"Yeah," Maya said, blushing for some reason.

"What if it wasn't yours?"

SSSSS

Shinji heard Asuka complaining about a synch test, and wouldn't have needed superhuman hearing to do it. He slowed as he neared the locker rooms, and realized why she was yelling. Someone had beaten her synch score, which had previously been unbeaten. As he neared, a boy his own age emerged from the locker rooms, dressed in a school uniform that mirrored his own.

"Hello, Kaworu," Shinji said amiably.

"Hello, Shinji. Asuka is upset."

"I know," he sighed.

"I did not mean to exceed her synch ratio."

They both looked as a set of lockers flew through the door and slammed into the concrete wall with a crash, bent down the middle, as if a certain Amazon's fist had dented them badly. Both boys stared at them for a moment as Asuka unleashed a torrent of profanity in three languages. Shinji looked at Kaworu, who looked at him.

"I should go," he said quietly, his eyes a little wide.

"Probably," Shinji smirked as headed for the locker room.

He knocked twice. There was no actual door, which always struck him as a bit odd. The lockers themselves were a bit back from the door, behind the set that had just been thrown out into the hallway. He tapped his knuckles on the doorframe and stepped inside.

Asuka sat in her yellow sundress, chin propped on one hand. She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and set, "Perv, this is the girl's locker room."

"Nothing I haven't seen before," he smirked.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Uh," he said, "I know Mari and Rei aren't in here, so, I, uh…"

She smirked. Then she sighed and looked at the floor.

He took a seat beside her. The bands on her wrists glinted in the bright lights of the locker room. She sat up a little bit and looked at them.

"You're mad about the synch ratios?"

"Not really," she said absently.

"Then what is it?" he glanced at the destroyed lockers. "They're probably going to make you pay for that."

"I'm mad because I'm not mad."

"Uh, what?"

She gave him a playfully slap upside the head. It probably would have fractured a normal person's skull.

"Ow, watch it."

"Sorry."

She looked at him for a minute, unconsciously wringing her hands. "Being a Pilot meant so much to me. I sacrificed so much for it. My whole life. Then some weirdo comes in and beats my score without breaking a sweat, and… I don't care. I don't get it."

"Why not?"

"I can fly. I can _fly_. I can bench press a cement mixer. This is _great._ I just… I don't know."

"I do," he said, and kissed her.

It was her turn to blush. "Huh. Hey, that new guy. What's his deal?"

"I don't know," Shinji shrugged. "I haven't seen him around much. He just disappears."

SSSSS

It did not surprise Rei that he was early. Something about Nagisa struck her as similar to herself, that he would lend himself to a certain precision. He had asked her to meet him here, at this ice cream stand. She sat at one of the tables with her hands folded at her lap, apparently the only patron. The young woman working the counter looked bored, and occasionally looked at her for a moment, as if to ask her purpose, and then looked away, unnerved. Rei had been used to that. If she tarried too long anywhere, eyes would settle on her, note her odd appearance, and retreat from her. In her experience, standing out was the best camouflage, since it lead to people pretending she did not exist.

She felt Nagisa's eyes on her before she turned to see him. She was used to looks of pity or disgust or confusion- she was a noncomformist, though not by choice. Even Shinji, when he'd acknowledged her as his sister, held in his eyes as a component of his genuine affection a sort of regret, as if he felt sorry for her just because she was. The world was lucky that she was not prone to temper tantrums, as Asuka was.

Kaworu did not approach her immediately. Instead, he went to the counter, where the clerk seemed relieved at first to actually be selling something to someone, at least until she got a good look at her customer. He said something softly to her, and she jerked back in surprise, and then smiled warmly as he approached.

"You did not ask me what I would like," she said as he sat down and set the ice cream he'd purchased in front of her.

"What would you have said?" he smirked.

"A vanilla ice cream cone," she replied, looking at the food he'd brought her. "What is this?"

"A caramel sundae with hot fudge and sprinkles."

"Why did you order this for me?"

"Have you ever had anything _but_ a vanilla ice cream cone?"

"No."

"That is why. I enjoy them. I hoped you might."

She shrugged, almost imperceptibly, and with the long plastic spoon, took a small portion of the sundae and ate it. She looked at it for a moment as her eyes widened. Warmth and coolness, sweetness and bitterness, and the gritty, sugary texture of the 'sprinkles' played across her tongue, and it was not until after she had made it that she realized she'd moaned softly.

"It is good," she said primly, and took another bite.

"You know what I am," he said, after taking a bite of his own.

"It is possible that you happen to be a natural albino, but that is highly unlikely."

"Do you know why you were made?"

"I was made in another's image," she said into the ice cream as she swirled her spoon, gathering together the different flavors and textures. "I have a dead woman's face."

He rested his chin on his tented fingers and smiled at her. "Do you know why I was made?"

She shook her head slightly.

He leaned back and took another bite. "I know what I am for. I do not know why this form was chosen for me. I do not know whose face I wear. Do you?"

She studied him for a moment, and tilted her head. "You are familiar, though I cannot say why."

"What do you think of it?"

"Your face?"

"Yes."

She took another bite of her ice cream and squinted for some reason. She didn't know why she was doing it, even after it was done. "It is not unpleasant."

He smiled. "I suppose that is a start. You do not look like a dead woman to me."

"Then what do I look like?"

"You look like you."

/\../\

Kaji settled against the wall and turned the binoculars out the window, focusing on the three steel tables set out in front of the café. It was dark, and he'd set the package on the table, a simple box tied shut with a black ribbon, the knot done just so. The visual metaphor was obvious. He watched the woman with the bleached blond hair and icy pale skin walk past, scoop up the package, and let out a sigh of relief.

A few moments later, his satphone rang. He picked it up to his ear.

"You wanted me to find that number."

"Yes," Ikari said. "Don't bother with a trace. I won't be on long."

"I wouldn't insult your intelligence. Do you want to play the back and forth, or are you going to divulge your evil plan now?"

"The UN missed something at Keel's mansion. So did you. So do did _they_."

The line went dead.

Kaji slipped the phone back into its pouch and headed back for the car.

SSSSS

"This place is pleasant," Kaworu said, looking out over the city.

There was less activity now than usual, fewer lights. The whole place looked darker, less vibrant. Rei noted this as she swept her gaze over it, finding herself with the inexplicable urge to look at Nagisa. She did, and he saw that she was looking at him, and their dyes drifted away from one another again without comment. For some reason, this caused her skin to warm, and her cheeks to take on a pink tinge.

"Shinji and Asuka come here often," she said. "Though I do not understand why. I fail to see the particular significance of a location on the ground in light of that."

"Perhaps this place holds some meaning to them."

She said nothing.

"Is there a place that holds meaning to you?"

A sudden chill wind blew, rustling the leaves over their heads. The cicadas were suddenly silenced, and Rei reflexively clutched at her arms. She shivered.

"Are you cold?" Kaworu said, although the shaking in his voice indicated that he was, too.

"Yes."

He moved closer to her and put an arm around her. Pressed against her side, he was surprisingly warm. Her cheeks heated again, and she blinked in surprise.

"Rei?"

"I did not give you leave to call me by my given name."

"Oh," he said, "I am sorry, I-"

"You may do so."

"Oh. Rei, do you believe in fate? That events are meant to transpire in a given sequence?"

"I once did," she said without looking him. "Until I met a man who could fly."

"Good," he said, and cupped her chin. She didn't stop him. His face drew closer to hers, and then the Angel alarm blared and they both jerked, breaking the embrace. Rei's gaze snapped to the south, where a bright light was filtering over the horizon.

"No," Kaworu said, his voice weak. "Not yet. There isn't enough time."

/\../\

Kaji knew a ritual when he saw one.

It had been elementary. They'd left books on the shelves in Keel's study, and there was no reason why. When he'd tried to pick one of them up, he knew. They were locked into place. It took him a good five minutes of trying before he decided to try them in sequence. He found the first one, pulled it loose, only for it to pop back into place when he touched another. Working out the correct sequence had taken hours. When he did, a chime played. Beethoven's Ninth. One of the panels of shelves slid backwards with a grinding sound, and he descended a staircase.

There were no books here. Nothing, in fact, but a concrete floor. The room was huge, bigger than Keel's study, and directly underneath it. Someone had been brought here, once, and murdered- there was still a bloodstain against the far wall, on some sort of altar. Whatever ritual tools had been used had been long cleared away, and the stain was old, years old- it had simply been left there, no one bothering to clean it up. The same was true of the simple chalk circle drawn around a stone platform just big enough for a person to lie upon.

Worked around the outside of the circle, also in chalk, were letters in different languages. It took him a moment, and he had to pull out the small computer he kept in the utility belt to decipher them all. Even then, it was gibberish. He stared at it for a moment, and then it hit him. It was a circle. He could start anywhere. He did, until he hit the right sequence. It started with the Hebrew letter Shin.

Shin for S. For _Solomon. _As in, wisdom of.

He ran out of the ritual room in a near panic, picked up the desk and shoved it through the window and then jumped clear, to make sure he would have reception. He ran into the night as he pressed the phone to his ear and dialed.

"Katsuragi!" he barked, even before she could reply.

"Kaji? Where the hell are you, how did you get this number? Look, an Angel just showed up, and-"

"Nagisa, the pilot, where is he?"

"What? He's in Unit-00, why?"

"Get him out of there," Kaji said frantically, "get him out of there and _kill him!"_

SSSSS

It wouldn't be long, now.

They'd broken his legs, and he had a feeling that wouldn't matter. Braces were already fixed around his limbs, and Fuyutsuki could feel every pin stuck into every part of the bones, a map of pain. After the one they called Scarecrow had failed to crack him, they'd turned him over to the expert.

They sent in the clown.

It wasn't enough. Still he resisted. They asked him his name, and he still said Kozo Fuyutsuki, but each time it was a little weaker, a little more half-hearted. When they brought him here, he knew he was close to the end. They put him on a gurney and strapped him down, and for the first time he saw what they'd done to his hand. They took off the bandages before the put his new gloves on him and he saw. There was an eye. He had an eye in his hand, and it looked at him with something bordering on contempt. He wanted to laugh. When they put the long, leathery blue glove on him, it hurt. He could feel the thing squirming, tendrils of it running all the way to his elbow, moving inside the muscles of his forearm.

The lights overhead were bright. He couldn't move his head. They'd braced him to a back board and slipped a helmet of smooth, cool metal over his head, one that covered his lower jaw and left his face exposed. They were attaching electrodes to him, probably for some sort of crude electroshock torture, or so he thought. When he saw them wheel what was left of Katsuragi into the room and connect him to the other end of whatever machine it was they were attaching him to, he understood.

The lights dimmed. He flicked his eyes from side to side and he realized he was in a much larger space than he'd realized; they'd deliberately blinded him with the lights so he wouldn't see. There had to be thousands of them.

He bit back a scream when they turned on the machine. A weight settled on him, like a lead blanket, alive somehow, undulating and moving as the man Al Ghul, standing nearby in a green robe with a hood that hid his face in shadow, began to chant, and the multitude around him joined him. He heard only bits and pieces through the grinding of his own teeth until the crescendo came.

"I heard, as it were, a noise of thunder, and one of the four beasts saying: Come and see! And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him."

The multitude chanted in reply, their voices rough and guttural, some sibilant and smooth, others barely human. The weight on him grew stronger and he began to hear a voice whisper something in a language he didn't know, but almost recognized. Al Ghul went on.

"Behold, I am the desolation and the death, and whosever liveth and believeth in me shall _surely die_, yet shall he live, and crawl, and beg. Behold the Tiger-Force at the core of all things. Behold the Revelation."

In those last moments, it was Kozo Fuyutsuki who closed his eyes and whispered, "Yui."

It was someone else who opened them.

"Behold," Al Ghul thundered in triumph, "He is among us! He lives! _**DARKSEID IS!**"_


	24. Blood and Thunder

The following incorporates characters, situations and settings which are derived from the copyrighted works of Studio Gainax/Khara, DC Comics, and Jack Kirby. Hail to the King, baby.

* * *

><p>Last Child of Krypton<p>

Chapter 24- Blood and Thunder

Rei found herself in the unpexpected position of watching Kaworu mount Unit-00 with some trepidation. She still did not know quite _how_ he was able to pilot the Eva. Whatever had once dwelt within her was now gone, consumed in the terrible process that had taken one of her own clones and given it a perverse form of life. He looked at her as he slipped into the plug, but said nothing. She pelt a pang of something deep, pulling her towards him. There was a curious resonance, something else drawing her to the deepest levels of the facility, some profound need to seek out _something_ that called her, like a splinter in her mind.

She felt the thrum of energy as Unit-00 came alive. The Eva stirred, drawing groans and metallic bangs from the restraint system. She hastily made her way to the edge of the bridge as it retracted and the LCL pool began to drain. Steam rose from the surface of the Eva as it came to operating temperature and warning lights over her head began to spin as it drew backwards, gliding away on huge rails that would carry Kaworu onto the launch pad.

She turned and headed for the elevator to seek the command center and the Commander therein. She was unsure of what to do. She could manifest huge power on her own, but she was afraid of facing the Angel on foot, as Shinji did, in her own person. The thought terrified her. She did not know why, only that it would be dangerous to face one of them without the protective embrace of Eva. She was not even particularly afraid of dying. She only knew that she must never, ever face an Angel alone.

Asuka met her halfway from the elevator, obviously rushing to the cages in her full plugsuit.

"Rei?" she said, slowing slightly. "You look upset? What is it?"

"Will you… I do not know how to say it."

"Huh? I've got to-"

"I am afraid that Kaworu will be hurt. I do not wish that."

She blinked. "Uh. Okay. Are you guys… nevermind, I have to go. He's already in his Eva, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"I"ll do what I can."

Asuka left her in the hall, and she headed for the elevator. The level indicator tick-tick-ticked away, and she willed it to go faster, then checked herself before she accidentally used her gift to tear it out of the wall. She actually tapped her foot as the door opened and she almost ran towards the command center, brushing some technician out of the way in a storm of papers and a half-full cup of cold coffee.

"Commander!" she nearly shouted, her voice hoarse.

Katsuragi turned in a flurry of raven hair, her eyes ride. "Rei? What is it?"

"What is happening? The Angel-"

She rested her hands on Rei's shoulders. "Calm down, Rei. We've got it," she lowered her voice, "Shinji and Toji are up there, and Asuka and Kaworu are in the Evas. We're not going to let this one catch us off guard, I promise. You'll be safe."

"It is not myself that I am concerned for," she said softly, but the Commander had already turned back to the battle.

The Angel took the form of a ring of light, whirling around a central point. It simply came into being near the Ashi lakes, and there awaited the Evangelions as they stormed forward, Unit-01 and Unit-00 behind it.

"Mari?" Katsuragi called. "You ready?"

"Yeah," she said listlessly, her voice a little hollower than usual. "Just tired."

"Get your game face on," Misato called, annoyed. "We may need you."

As the Units approached, the Angel did not react. Shinji and Toji were marked on the command center's massive view screen by moving cursors, as they were now too distant to be seen by the camera system, or at least Shinji was; Toji's position was clearly marked by a fuzz of green light like a will o' the wisp.

The Angel was not silent for long. It suddenly lashed out, breaking from its ring-like form into a helical serpent of light, whipping this way and that. Asuka cried out as it struck at Unit-01, leaving a deep furrow in the Eva's armor plate. Rei felt a sudden surge of tension in her stomach as Unit-00 stepped into the fray, grabbing the Angel and dragging it bodily away from the other Eva.

"Asuka," Kaworu called, "You must retreat. It means to invade our bodies!"

"Eww!" Asuka called back.

"He's right," Akagi turned towards them. "It's trying to breach Unit-00's armor now. We can't let Unit-01 be contaminated."

"You and I are going to talk about that when this is over," Misato said coolly. "Asuka, pull back."

"Yes, ma'am, should I-"

"No."

Asuka growled something in guttural German, just soft enough not to be heard.

The Angel lashed out at Unit-00- at Kaworu. Rei took a step forward, her mouth falling open ever so slightly. He screamed, and she tensed. The creature wrapped around his Eva and began to seep into it, sliding under the armor plating, denting it. Kaworu tried to say something, but all that came out were a few guttural syllables and grunts. Rei felt herself tensing, felt the power drawing within her. Her heels began to rise off the floor.

Shinji's voice broke into the madness, clear, clean, and calm. "I have an idea. We need to contain it. Toji?"

"I gotcha, man," Toji said through his own ear communicator. "Get it off him."

The Angel moved. Rei's heart fluttered in her chest and she felt an involuntary sigh escape her lips as the creature's luminous body tore free, even as Kaworu groaned in pain from the separation. It flailed around a point to too tiny to see, and then, somehow, Shinji drew together the titanic strength he needed to _throw _the thing, hurl it away from the Evas.

It was Toji's turn. His Ring discharged a thick beam of green light that struck the creature at its center and unfolded around it, first as a set of prison bars, and then as a sphere. Inside, the beast lashed out against it, and it trembled, but it held.

"Hurry," Toji said, his voice strained. "Hard to hold it."

"We need something that can take it out, and fast." Shinji said calmly.

"You read my mind," Katsuragi said. "Kaworu. Get the positron rifle, from armament building-"

"No time," Toji panted, "I'm losing it!"

"I have an idea," Kaworu said softly. "It is desperate."

"Spit it out," Katsuragi said, her voice a bit heated.

"Allow it to escape and attack me I will set the self-destruct charge. Contain the creature and the blast and destroy them both."

"We lose an Eva," Ritsuko said, shocked. "This is crazy, we can't sacrifice a third of our operational-"

"Shut up and blow it up!" Toji shouted, as the sphere began to bulge out where the Angel pressed against it. "I can do it, but it's going to burn out my Ring, the whole charge. Shinji'll have to catch me."

"I've got you," Shinji said immediately.

"Do it," Said Katsuragi.

The Angel escaped. There was a ringing thump and Kaworu ejected, the plug spinning away from Unit-00's neck as its head lurched forward. Rei looked into its one eye and felt a pang of regret, though she could not say why. The creature slammed into it, almost bowled it over, and with a sickening crunching sound began to tear into its now motionless body, even as it began to move.

"Now!" Shinji called.

Toji turned his ring on it again, just in time. The field of green energy wrapped around the Angel and the Eva both, just as something white and brilliant flashed in the Eva's depths. The green shield turned bright white with energy and Toji grunted, but he needed hold it only for a moment. The light and its source both winked out and the monitors tracked Shinji as he caught his comrade.

It was at that moment that Rei noticed Katsuragi was on the phone.

"Kill him?" she said, "why would I-"

SSSSS

Shinji came to rest not far from the ejected plug.

"Dude," Toji said, "You're carrying me the girly way. Put me down. Right now."

Shinji smirked and helped his friend balanced himself on one foot against a rock. The crater from the explosion loomed behind them, but much smaller than it would have been had the blast been uncontained. Toji's suit hung a little looser, his arm and leg lip cloth where the Ring-construct replacements had faded without his power to sustain them.

"I'm out of the fight until I get back to my battery," he said, sliding to a seat.

The plug hissed and the hatch slid open, discharging a great gout of LCL. Kaworu stepped drunkenly over the side clutching his head, running his gloved fingers through his silvery hair, slicked against his head. He panted and mumbled something, and Shinji walked towards him, hand outstretched.

"Hey, man, what's wrong?" Toji said, his voice wavering a little.

"R-run," Kaworu stammered out, "L-last messenger, Armisael, dead, cannott stop it, can't hold it… in… the word, must say the word…"

"What?" Shinji stepped forward. "What word? You're not making any sense."

"_Run," _he pleaded, "It's in my head, they put it there, I cannnnot st-s-s-s-s…" he trailed off, took in a deep breath, his eyes going utterly flat and lifeless.

"Shazam," he whispered.

Thunder roared out, rumbling across the sky. A bolt of lightning reached out of the heavens and snapped between Kaworu's outstretched hands. Raw force surged out from where he stood, and Shinji darted back and grabbed Toji, shielding him with his body. He felt the wave of heat and surge of static electricity wash over his body, and his hair stood on end. Toji groaned, his head lolling to one side, knocked senseless by the force, but alive.

Shinji turned. Kaworu stood in the center of a scorched crater, his black plugsuit gone, replaced by a glossy black bodsuit marked only by a golden lightning bolt stylized across his chest and a golden sash knotted loosely around his waist. He still stood, hands raised, face skyward, his eyes hidden in the shadow of his hair. His gaze slowly turned on Shinji, his eyes flat and expressionless above a maniacal smile, a mad grin that strained his lips.

He said nothing, and surged forward. Shinji pushed Toji away in time, dropping him roughly to the ground as Kaworu planted both fists in his chest. The pain that surged to him was an unwelcome guest, a rare sensation that knocked the breath out of him with a grunt. He went sliding along the ground, digging a deep furrow as he did, and Kaworu stood over him, fists planted on his hips, lunatic grin never leaving his face. His soulless eyes stared down at Shinji.

"Wait," Shinji said, "You don't have to do this. I can-"

Kaworu said nothing. Instead, he grabbed Shinji by both ankles and slammed him _through_ a nearby boulder, pulverizing it to powder and chips of stone in the process. He continued the arc and threw Shinji hard, sending him into the ground. He hit with an exploding cone of clumped mud, stood up, and flew.

His fist connected with Kaworu's chin with a shock of impact that ran up his arm and made his bones creak, and it surprised him. For a moment, a tiny skin of an instant, neither of them seemed to move until a shockwave spread out from the point of contact, sending a rolling wave of debris away from the spot where they both stood. Kaworu launched backwards, slowed, and came to a hover in the air.

He moved with a speed Shinji couldn't counter, could bare perceive, a sonic boom trailing behind him. His hands around Shinji's throat, Kaworu shoved him backwards, towards the city. Shinji strained to look behind himself in horror as Kaworu slammed them both into the streets at the very center of Tokyo-3, and he could swear he saw the skyscrapers around them sway.

Misato's voice crackled in his ear.

"Shinji! _Shinji! _You have to stop him! _He's going to bring the Geofront down!"_

He force his hands up between Kaworu's, spread them, and shoved his arms away, then snapped forward in a fierce headbutt that sent the silver-haired boy stumbling backwards, shaking his head. His lifeless eyes never left Shinji.

The building behind him was starting to move.

_God._

The shield building slid down with an audible groan, followed by a series of rippling booms as its moorings came loose. With a huge rasping clatter it descended faster than it was meant to, tearing out its own tracks as gravity drew it earthward, into the true heart of Tokyo-3. Shinji let out a gasp of surprise and flew after it. The top surface crumbled in his hands and he let out a yelp of anger, and then boosted his speed until he was under it. He pushed at the bottom of the building, his hands denting the steel among the grease and the gears. The great mass slowed. It was a tenuous game. If he pushed too hard, he'd go right through it.

He moved it. Its trajectory changed, moving it towards an unoccupied stretch of the Geofront, over some agricultural fields.

Kaworu hit him. The building dropped.

Shinji hit the ground first, driven there by Kaworu. He looked up in horror as the building blocked his view of the artificial sky, huge and gray and imposing. There was a crash as it buckled and crashed into the ground all around them. Shinji rolled into it, great pieces of steel and concrete scraping across his back like rain over a turtle's shell. He stood up and hurled a great piece of debris off of himself.

Asuka came running. He looked at her.

_Oh God._

"No!" he shouted, "Don't! Run! _Run!" _

Kaworu stood up.

He tossed aside a chunk of concrete the buried him and rose, covered from head to toe in dust that made him into a gray ghost, a thing of the grave. Asuka gave a battle shout and jumped at him, and with neither contempt nor malice but that same sick grin he turned and backhanded her and she went flying, a thin streamer of blood trailing from her nostril. She fell and hit the ground and was silent in a limp heap.

Shinji stood for a moment, or it seemed a moment, as Kaworu faced him again.

"You _son of a bitch!" _

He flew. He grabbed Kaworu under the arms, and he flew, straight up. Misato was screaming but he didn't care, he went right through the armor plating and the soil and the street and up into the sky, dragging a swirling cone of dust with him. Kaworu batted at him but he ignored it, feeling the press of the air around him until it gave way in the glorious explosion of the sound barrier, his own scream trailing behind him.

What went up, had to come down.

He aimed for the hillside not far from the high school. Some part of him still knew to be careful, and he could see that the school was empty, the area deserted. He hit the hillside, Kaworu with him.

Then there was no more hillside.

What remained of it rose in a mushroom cloud with a rippling boom, as if someone had dropped an N2 mine on it. The shockwave swept the school away as if it were a balsa wood model, turned the whole structure into a cloud of debris and dust that rolled down the hillside toward the city. Shinji mounted Kaworu, planted his knee into his chest, and closed his hands around the boy's throat.

"Shazam," Kaworu croaked.

The lightning came, and white hot pain lanced through Shinji's body. Everything forgotten but the heat straining every nerve ending in his system, he arched his back and screamed, and Kaworu seized him by the belt and neck, raised him, and cried the word again.

"Shazam! Shazam! _Shazamshazamshazamshazam!"_

Shinji rolled. His elbow took Kaworu on the face. The lightning went where it was meant to go.

They stood. Shinji held him by the jaw, his iron-hard fingers crawling over his face. Kaworu stared at him with those dead eyes, only they seemed to soften for a moment. The strange suit was gone, his plugsuit back again. He put both hands on Shinji's forearm, and trembled under his grasp. He slackened his grip slightly.

"Kill me," Kaworu begged.

Shinji tightened his grip again, and so they stood.

Shinji tensed as soft fingers ran down his arm and rested atop Kaworu's own.

Rei stood, her crimson eyes wet with tears. She ran her fingers down both of the boy's cheeks, and his eyes, so like hers, bored into her own. Her fingers laced through Shinji's.

"Don't," he said, "He killed Asuka, he-"

"She is alive," Rei said softly, "she will be fine."

Shinji's hand wavered, almost releasing the boy's mouth. "I can't… I don't know what to do…"

"This is why he was sent to us," Rei said softly, facing him. "They sent him here so that you would murder him. To break you."

"W-what?"

"You are not a killer, Shinji."

Shinji released his grip. Kaworu didn't move.

"I need him," Rei whispered. "We are the same."

He trembled, his eyes focusing and unfocusing, the effect unnerving. "Sh-Sha…"

Rei covered his lips with her own. He froze, and his expression slackened. Shinji felt a pang of anger as his arms slipped around her waist and drew her into an embrace. She parted from the kiss with an audible gasp and when she left it, there was a thin layer of orange light over his lips, binding them closed. He smiled weakly, and she kissed him again, softly, on the forehead.

"I know what you are," she whispered to him, "I know what we are. They will not hurt you anymore."

"Rei," Shinji said, "I don't understand. What do we do?"

"Use your gift, brother," she turned slightly to him, not releasing Kaworu. "See."

He did. Kaworu wasn't human. Neither was Rei, but he expected that. They were similar, somehow. Except that Kaworu had something in his head. Shinji sagged. He'd told him. He tried to warn him. They put it in his head.

There was a worm. Somehow, it realized he was looking at it, and twitched. It moved. Rei didn't have time to protest before Shinji lanced out, the heat of his vision boring through the top layer of Kaworu's skin just behind his ear. The thing let out a tiny squeal as it died, and a rush of psychic energy made him take a step back. Sudden feelings of despair washed over him, the feeling of an immortal life drawing to a close. The thing wasn't even ash. There was only a small burn mark on Kaworu's neck.

Rei released him. The energy band dissolved. No one spoke. Kaworu let out a long, exultant sigh, and sagged to his knees. Rei rushed to his side and he fell into her shoulder, apparently asleep.

"Rei," Shinji said softly. "What's going on?"

"He is like me. We are not what se seem."

Static crackled in his ear.

"What the hell was that? We just detected the most powerful AT-Field _ever._" Misato demanded.

He touched his earlobe to make sure he would be heard. "It's over. He's down. Where's Asuka?"

"She's fine, she's in the infirmary. Get Rei and Toji and get your ass back here. We're in trouble."

He was about to ask why when the first snowflake drifted past his face.

/\../\

Kaji knew he was in trouble as soon as he hung up the phone.

Rushing outside had not been the best plan, given that the person who'd directed him to find what he'd just seen had probably anticipated that. Had anticipated that, since Gendo Ikari was standing just outside the mansion, his clone by his side in a fashionable trench coat, and, he noticed, nothing else. She hadn't even bothered with shoes, yet at some point she'd bleached her hair blonde. Or dyed it, rather- one doesn't bleach silvery-blue hair.

He was standing at ease, jacket undone as usual, although he'd traded his NERV uniform for a conservative gray silk suit, lost the gloves, and most shockingly of all, _shaved_. If he hadn't been standing next to a barely decent clone of Rei Ayanami that was practically drooling, Kaji might have walked right past him.

Kaji tensed, thankful for the cape covering his movements as he went for the utility belt. Bruce thought of _everything. _

"Relax," Gendo smirked. "if I meant to kill you, Naoko would have flattened you the moment she laid eyes on you."

"Where would be the fun in that?" the clone purred.

Gendo shot her an annoyed glance. "I came to you, _'Batman'. _I may let you live. Where is the book?"

"I don't-"

"Let's not insult one another's intelligence," he said dryly. "You caught on to my clue, you know of the Equation. Did Shinji find it?"

"Yes, but I kept him from reading it."

Gendo's eyes became harder, colder somehow. "You have no idea what you've done."

"What?"

"Why do you think I left it in a place where only he would find it? I meant for him to read it. He had to see it, to understand."

"Why?" Kaji started edging away, looking for an exit. "So you could recruit him?"

"No, you fool, to prepare him, so that when the time comes, he may resist."

"What's your game, Ikari? First you try to kill me, then you start feeding me information."

"Every inch of NERV is covered in surveillance. If I had simply left without a token battle, it would have undermined my goals. I had already instructed Naoko not to harm Shinji or the Soryu girl. The rest are expendable."

Kaji barked out a bitter laugh. "Oh, that's convenient. Here's my theory. You tried to go to ground, only to find out that you had no ground left to go to. Your connection's superiors had already cleaned up that loose end. You've got nowhere else to run, and this is a backhanded attempt to find the nearest port in a storm."

"Believe what you will. My reputation, my life, all mean nothing. You read the book. You saw the Equation. I watched my wife kill myself and ruined my relationship with my own son to stop this madness."

"Wait, what?"

"What would you have had me do? Be a good father? Recruit him? I kept him from them, lied about his heritage, hid him away until his powers had a chance to manifest. I gave him an anchor. _I_ had Soryu's plane sabotaged. _I _ensured she was berated and praised at just the right times to facilitate her bonding to him. _I_ made sure the Dummy System maimed the Suzahara boy to force his hand, provoke him into confronting me so I could reveal the alien mineral and teach him some caution. If I thought it was necessary, I would have assigned Soryu to Unit-03, or Rei. If I thought it was necessary, I would have paralyzed him with the mineral and put a bullet in her head."

"You," Kaji said cooly, "are out of your mind."

"Probably," Gendo smirked, pressing his glasses up his nose. "but who isn't?"

"What now?"

"If the Final Messenger has not been defeated, it soon will be. Now that NERV has served its purpose, it will be utterly destroyed and Third Impact initiated. The leaders of the cult that controlled SEELE are all insane, and probably mean to resurrect _him_, if they haven't already. Third Impact will destroy and unite humanity in the perpetual living death of the Anti-Life Equation."

"I'm against that." Said Kaji.

Gendo smirked. "So am I."

SSSSS

On the massive central screen of the command center, a wireframe model of the Earth gradually rotated, marked in a dozen places by flashing red dots, with new ones appearing every few seconds. A satellite view of the clouds was superimposed above that, now covering half the globe, from Antarctica up. Ritsuko turned around slowly, and let out an agonized breath.

"We have seismic activity covering the entire planet, two tropical storms, a hurricane, and what will probably turn into a cyclone in the next forty-eight hours. At the same time, there is a huge mass of cold air rushing out from Antarctica in all directions. The entire world's temperature has already dropped by half a degree."

"Shit." Misato said.

"It gets worse. If these readings are right, there's some sort of destabilization in the Earth's core itself. The MAGI are still calculating, but they acknowledge the possibility that it will explode."

"What do you mean, explode?"

Ritsuko turned to Hyuga. "Run the simulation."

The word SIMULATION appeared on the screen, and lines appeared connecting the surface of the wireframe Earth to the red sphere of its core. The lines thickened in brightness and intensity and simulated flames appeared, erupting from great fissures all around the Earth, until as the globe spun, great pits of fire licked out from the surface into the ionosphere.

"When I looked, he opened the sixth seal, and behold a great earthquake," said Ritsuko. "The seas boil. The skies fall. Judgment day."

SSSSS

Asuka was asleep.

They'd bandaged her head, but it was redundant. By the time they'd gotten her to the X-Ray, she was mostly healed. As Shinji sat beside her, it occurred to some part of him that the doctors and nurses were lucky a groggy Amazonian Asuka hadn't woken up and started tearing up the hospital. He also reflected that he'd spent far too much time in here lately.

She opened her eyes.

"Hey."

"Hey," she smiled weakly. "That was dumb."

"Yes," he said, taking her hand. "If I tell you to run, you really should."

Her eyes hardened. "No. Never."

He sighed. "Asuka."

"Yeah?"

"I-"

Toji walked in. "Dude. You need to see this."

Shinji looked at him wearily for a moment, then stood up. In short order, Asuka sat up, tore the bandages off her head, and ran her fingers through her wild hair, desperately trying to tame it. When the machines next to her blared as she tore the sensors off, she yanked the plug out of the wall and followed after them, padding on her bare feet, growling angrily as she had to hold her hospital gown closed with one hand.

Down the hall, Kaworu lay in bed, his wrists strapped to the bed frame with leather cuffs, as if it would do any good. Rei lay with him, and both slept peacefully. She'd abandoned her school uniform on the floor, where it lay in a heap along with his hospital gown. She lay curled around him, the bedsheet barely covering both, contented smiles on their faces.

The mattress was completely covered in flowers. Vines and stems grew up from between Rei's toes, and sprouted from between her fingers where she lightly clutched the pillow. The plants had sprung from the mattress itself, as if it had been soil, and creeping vines spread from where the pair lay in all directions, draped over the edges of the bed, scrabbling for purchase on the linoleum floor. One had crawled up and into a glass of water on the bedside table, and from the cup had sprung a sunflower, standing a good six inches tall. Rei sighed and her hand slipped down the bed, and when her palm hit the sheets, new sprouts forced their way out of it and twined through her fingers.

"Okay," Asuka said blearily, "I did _not_ see that coming."


	25. air

Last Child of Krypton

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><p>air<p>

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><p>Misato ran from the upper tier down to the lower levels, looking at the screens in horror.<p>

She took a deep breath. "Okay, this is it. I want everybody, and I mean _everybody _topside, _now. _Get the civilians out of the shelters and get them down here."

Ritsuko shook her head. "Are you insane? Everything down here is classified!"

"Does it matter?" she turned back to the upper tier. "Fuyutsuki, get… where did he go? Nevermind. Get Shinji and Toji on it. I want everyone down here as fast as possible."

"Then what?" said Hyuga, beginning to type as the other technicians passed on her orders.

"Once everyone is in the base, we're going to flood the upper layers with Bakelite and throw everything we've got into defense."

"Commander," Aoba said quietly. "You'd better look at this."

"What?" she said, as she rushed to his side.

On the local radar, nine wedge-shaped objects appeared, moving slowly out of the south. Misato leaned on his shoulder and stared at the screen, and then a wave of recognition and horror flowed through her.

"Oh God," she said.

"What?" Aoba said, startled. "What is it?"

"The Eva series," Misato swallowed, hard. "It's been completed."

She stood up sharply, the calm mask of control flowing over her features once more. "Doctor Akagi. Put the MAGI firewalls on full alert, and send out a distress signal on every frequency, ever transmission method we have available. We are under attack and require assistance."

As she began to frantically type at Maya's keyboard, static crackled over the communications system.

"-come in, I repeat, come in. This is Batman to all points. Hostiles inbound, I repeat, hostiles inbound."

"We know," Misato shouted back, "where are you, we-"

"Not the Eva series," he said frantically, practically shouting. "Everybody else."

SSSSS

Nine shadows passed over the countryside.

The flying wings, huge and vast and thrumming with a dozen jet engines each, slid through the air, impossible in their size as they approached the city. Beneath each a white shape hunched in the fetal position, hanging upside down like sleeping bats. From below, they were like the shadows of rays, skimming through the ocean. As the craft drew near the city the things hanging beneath them stirred, drawing themselves away from the underbellies of their carriers.

The planes swayed upwards gently as nine plugs marked "DUMMY 02- KAWORU NAGISA" slid home and armor plates locked into place over them. The things let out gurgling moans as they came alive, their S2 engines thrumming to life in their bellies. Their heads pulled away first, each grinning a mad, eyeless grin, their huge mouths full of needle teeth, like perverse mockeries of whales. They wore no armor, leaving their white, bloodless skin exposed. As they detached, they fell backwards, and from carriers on their backs feathery wings unfolded. With a liquid, inhuman grace, the Mass Production Series rolled over from their backs to their bellies in flight, wings extended, and arms out, massive gray swords in each of their left hands.

Their shadows passed over the city as the flying wings peeled away, one by one, stacking in the distance. As they neared the city the Mass Production Series swirled on a thermal forming a ring like vultures circling their carrion.

They were not alone. From a single point, like a great expanding flower, darkness flowed, rising at the edge of the city like a tide. It lifted and swirled on itself like a thunderhead and then drew inwards with a rippling boom. In its center, dark staff raised high, stood the Shade. Beside him, Ra's Al Ghul turned, arms upraised, and shouted dark benediction upon the world's assembled evil.

"In Darkseid's name! Kill them all!"

SSSSS

Every alarm went off at once.

"Going to the cages," Asuka shouted over the din, and darted off with one hand still clutching her hospital gown, tangled hair flying wildly behind her.

"Should we wake them?" Toji said, pointing at Rei and Kaworu.

"Let them be," Shinji said, "Come on. We've got work to do."

Static crackled in his ear. "Shinji, get Toji and get to the surface as fast as you can."

He was already there by the time she'd finished her sentence. They could fix the windows in the hospital later.

"What's going on?"

"Nine Evas, hostile. Kaji says they've got ground and air support incoming. Same people we fought before, plus more."

Shinji was about to reply as he came to a stop at the Geofront entrance not far from the old apartment. There was a harsh boom and the building nearest him came down in a heap, just fell down in a shower of debris and chalky dust that washed over him like a wave. A hugely muscled man with a skull wreathed in green fire bellowed in fury and charged at him, lashing out with fiery breath.

Shinji stepped through it, picked him up by his belt, and threw him through the nearest wall. He didn't have time for this. He looked up and saw them, saw the nine bestial things circling like vultures overhead, and then they began to descend. Toji appeared beside him, trailing energy behind him.

"Get the shelters," Shinji shouted, "I'll do what I can to keep them off of you."

SSSSS

Mari slipped into her plugsuit and pushed the button, sealing it to herself. She forwent her customary bounce as she made her way into the cages, technicians brushing past her here and there as she headed for Unit-02. The Eva grinned down at her behind its metal mask, and with a sigh she mounted the ladder, working her way up to the plug. She saw Asuka running towards Unit-01 as she did.

The plug carried her as it slid home, and she rocked with the jolt as it came to rest. The LCL flooded in around her, stinking of coppery blood, and she stifled a sob as it made its way up around her head. She felt the sudden tingle as it electrolyzed and sucked in a thick breath of it, then sobbed again, clutching herself.

"Mari!" Misato's voice chimed in her ear, "What's happening? You're below the absolute barrier. "

"I can't," she sniffed, pulling herself up into the fetal position. "I can't. I'm scared. I can't. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want any more monsters. I wanna go home. I want my _mommy._"

"Mari," Misato said, "I'm sorry. We need you. Please."

"I can't!" she almost screeched, shaking in her seat. "I can't," she said more quietly, rolling to one side.

She heard a sound, like distant thunder rumbling over a mountaintop.

No, not thunder, a heartbeat.

_Little one. _

"W-what?"

"Mari? Who are you talking to?"

_We are here, little one. Do not be afraid._

"W-w-who is that? Who's there?"

_You are not alone, little one. I will protect you. Hush now._

"Mari? I don't know what you did, but you're synched. One hundred percent. How the hell did you do that?"

She didn't answer.

"Hold on. We're launching you."

SSSSS

Shinji felt his heart surge as Unit-01 and Unit-02 burst up to the surface, rocking on the launch pads. He felt a sudden pang of terror as the Nine fell on them at once, before Asuka had time to even reach for a weapon. He let out a yelp and flew for them, but before he reached the Evas the three white monsters assaulting Unit-02 flew backwards.

Asuka was brilliant. She was a warrior born, a slayer of giants, but at that moment Mari was making her look like an amateur. Unit-02 moved like a force of nature, twisting and turning at dizzying speed, ducking one sword swing while deftly turning another with the palms of her hands. Unit-01 came up behind her, Asuka's roar of battle fury thundering from the external speakers, and laid into Mass Production 04 with both fists, pounding its elongated, hideous skull to mush in a single titanic blow. As it fell, she wrenched the long sword from its hands and took it up double handed, her grip spread wide, moving to cover Mari's back.

Beneath him, something exploded.

SSSSS

Rei woke up groggily, to the sound of alarms, and sat up. In a panic, she undid Kaworu's restraints and he embraced her, crushing her to his body as if he was afraid she would disappear. The room smelled of pollen and flowers, and she could do nothing for a moment but run her hands through the foliage in amazement. Her crimson eyes met his.

"What do we do?" he said quietly.

"This is my world," she said as she touched her forhead to his, "these are my children. He cannot have them. You know what I have to do. My essence can remain caged no longer. I must reclaim it, and you yours."

"Then you must go," he said. "Why could we not have more time?"

She kissed him and said, "all is not yet lost. While my brother still lives, there is hope."

"If you believe, then I believe," he whispered.

He slipped his hands around her slender waist and helped her to the floor in her bare feet. Disdaining her school uniform, she simply walked out, and he did the same. The pair earned a few stares as they walked out of the infirmary section and down to the elevators, where they parted ways with passionate embrace. She stepped into the elevator and he watched the doors slide closed, parting them. He felt it, now, felt the draw as the force lying in wait within Terminal Dogma called her once more. It was time for the bringers of life to be whole again.

He turned and headed up towards the cages. He needed a clear view of the sky, and he had a stop to make first. The technicians stared at him as he walked into the cage and stopped where Unit-00 once stood. He gave the space a polite nod and went on his way, until he'd ascended to the floor of the Geofront itself, where he scanned the roof of the cavern. There was an opening. It was all he needed.

"Shazam!"

/\../\

Misato looked around. "Ritsuko! Any reply?"

The scientist only shook her head gravely.

"Okay," she said, "this is it. Everybody grab a sidearm and head for the elevators. We're going deeper into the base."

"Misato," Hyuga said quietly, forgetting rank. "We've been sabotaged. The doors are all stuck open, Bakelite injection is down, I'm locked out. The MAGI… the MAGI are being corrupted."

"It doesn't matter, we have to let the civilians in anyway. Everybody go. Now, God damn it!"

She stood her ground as Aoba jumped up with Hyuga and got under Ritsuko's shoulders, half carrying her towards the elevator at the rear of the platform. The remaining technicians began abandoning the room, heading deeper into the complex. She headed for the rear doors of the upper level with her gun drawn, picking up another from the desk as she went.

Then, the door opened and razor sharp playing card sunk into her belly, as if it had sprouted there. She got off a wild shot as she went down, sliding across the floor, her guts burning with pain, and let out a strangled cry. A penny loafer pressed on her shoulder and rolled her onto her back.

A nightmare stared down at her with a maniac grin. He crouched beside her, took off his wide brimmed gambler's hat, and palmed her cheeks with a gloved hand. "Oh, so pretty. Let's put a smile on that face."

He let out a barking sound that was half laugh and half cry of pain as a bat shaped shuriken slapped into his own cheek, burying itself there in a fine spray of blood. He rolled with and came back up a crouch, pulled it out with a meaty sound, and said thickly, "You're a little late, aren't you?"

Kaji charged him. The chalk-skinned fiend dodged his every blow, laughing thickly, blood streaming down his face to stain his overcoat. He gave Kaji a light slap on the back of his head, the blow of his gloved hand like a clap against the cowl.

"You're not Batman," he taunted, "Batman would have made it. Batman always saved the girl. Except for… what was her name? Bar-something," he choked back a laugh, "I forget."

Kaji said nothing. He kept swinging, and his foe kept dodging, ducking under or sidestepping each hit. Until he backed up against the railing that separated the upper tier from the lower and the great void that housed the MAGI. With lighting speed, Kaji produced something heavy and square and shoved it into the lapel of the bloody overcoat.

"You're right. I'm not Batman."

Kaji pushed a button and there was a meaty _thump_ as something fired from the box, trailing a line behind it. It went white through the Joker's skinny chest and kept on going, trailing a line of thin black wire behind it. An instant later it hit, striking somewhere in the ceiling, and the line went taut.

"That's not funny…"

Kaji pushed another button and with a whir, the line-thrower drew his limp form up the ceiling. He ran back to Misato, sliding to her side on his knees. She looked at him dull shock for a moment, and in a fury he tore the mask of his head, tossing it away. He propped her up and looked at the wound. Thick black blood had stained the whole front of her uniform. Pullling the card out might kill her.

He held her as gingerly as he could, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Misato," he whispered.

"It's cold in here," she wheezed. "You need to turn down the air conditioning."

"We're not in my apartment, honey. Come on, stay with me."

"Sure we are. We spent the whole week in bed. Don't you remember?"

"I remember. Misato?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I know."

She slumped a little. He bit one finger of his gauntlet and pulled it off, and put his bare hand against her forhead. She was getting cold. He held her closer as her lifeblood spilled out over him, and she let out a cough. Blood dribbled from her lips.

"Hi Rei," she said softly, eyes unfocused, "How did you get here?"

_Be not afraid,_ a voice whispered.

SSSSS

There were too many places to go, too many places to be, he didn't know what to do. Shinji let out a cry of frustration and seized the jaws of MP-08, tearing them open with his bare hands. He stared down between the needle teeth and unleashed the burning fury, lighting up the interior of the thing's meaty throat with the fury of a red sun. Fire erupted out and washed over him and the monstrous beast toppled backwards, flapping its wings, flame and smoke pouring from its mouth like a hellish dragon. It slammed into one of the armored skyscrapers and went down with it.

"Shinji!" Asuka boomed through Unit-01's speakers, "Get to the shelters! Get the people out! We can handle this!"

He held, uncertain for a moment, and then went for it. Something caught his attention. He saw a frail looking man with heavily braced legs walking on a pair of crutches, slowly making his way towards a Geofront entrance. Shinji went down and came to rest beside him, and then froze.

The man, if it was a man, regarded him with red, red eyes, like every blood vessel in them had opened at once, staining the sclera with gore. His skin was ashen, like a dead man carved from stone. He wore no shirt, and instead was bandaged heavily about his midsection. He wore a heavy back brace and some sort of protective helmet made of smooth, cold blue metal. He looked familiar.

"Fuyutsuki?" Shinji breathed. "Is that you? How did-"

In answer, twin beams of red-orange light lanced out of his eyes, bending and twisting through the air. When they touched Shinji he flinched and then screamed as fiery pain slammed in waves through every part of his body, driving him to his knees. He strangled his cry and then began to rise again, only for the being to narrow his eyes, intensifying the beam. He sank to his knees again, and then flopped to his belly. Wisps of smoke curled around his fingers, and he could barely move.

"That is who I am."

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><p>Curled in the seat, Mari felt a surge of joy, a sudden relief of the tension in her belly as Unit-02, moving on its own, tore apart the next… <em>thing, <em>splitting it from groin to gullet with a mighty stroke of her sword. She felt something flow from the Eva into her, a savage joy, and, somehow, pride.

Until it happened, and one of the MP Evas took Asuka. It was over so fast it might as well not have happened at all. One of the MP's took Unit-01 in the back of her left knee, raking it with the sword. Asuka screamed and the Eva dropped to one knee. The bizarre, alien Eva let out a cry of joy and as it recovered the same stroke swept away Unit-01's umbilical. Asuka forced herself back up, turned, and tore her attacker in half, Unit-01 tearing into it with her bare hands. She should have kept her anger in check. She could have kept her head. One of the other MP Evas came up behind her and impaled Unit-01 and the other Eva both, hit them so hard it lifted the other white monstrosity off the ground. Asuka's gurgling scream shook Mari in her seat.

So did Unit-02's roar. Pain, sorrow, raw hate surged through her, and she felt her hands on the controls, tugging them this way and that. Words, not her own, found her lips, and Unit-02 shared them, blasting out through speakers.

"_Die!" _she screamed, "_I hate you! All of you die!"_

She heard another voice, then. A softer, kinder voice.

_Be not afraid._

|O|

Toji was at the shelter when Asuka fell. He'd used the Ring to pry the door off, made a giant crowbar. He was almost too late. Some nut dressed up as a scarecrow was running around, spraying gas everywhere. Toji knocked him out and threw him into an old dumpster, then set to work on the shelter. The door fell away easily, and he took to the air over the heads of the assembled civilians.

"Everybody!" he cried, "Listen up! It's not safe here! We have to get you into the Geofront!"

Beneath him, the crowd mulled for a moment, then began to scream. He turned until his line of sight matched theirs and he saw Unit-01 go down in a show of gore, a death rattle washing over the city as it toppled to one side. Unit-02 came bounding after it and tore Asuka's attacker apart, but it was too late. Mari's scream of fury assaulted his ears.

Then they fell on her.

There was no artistry to it. They wasted no time. Three blades, hurled by their wielders slide through her Eva as neatly as the knives in a magician's trick box. There wasn't even a sound. The Eva lolled to one side for a moment, and then before she fell, they were on her.

"Toji?" a tiny voice called.

Hikari. She had his sister and her own, little Nozomi, clinging to her dress. Her older sister Kodama hugged them all, while their father sat there, stunned. Toji landed beside them in a hurry.

"Come on," he said, "we've got to go, we-"

_Lantern_, the ring whispered, _I am detecting a massive unknown energy buildup directly below. _

"Toji?" Hikari said again.

"Come here," he said. "It'll be okay. Come here."

"I hear something," she said as she pressed into his embrace, "do you hear it?"

_Be not afraid._

SSSSS

Kaworu stood his ground as the ancient enemy strode forward, each step painful on ruined legs. They faced each other, and he felt the heavy press of his enemy's will upon him, even with the Wisdom of Solomon to give him guidance. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"You will not enter here."

It smirked, ever so slightly, dead red eyes without mirth or mercy. "Even at my weakest, you are no threat to me, boy. Here, where my enemies cannot see me, I gather strength. Soon this pathetic planet will perish and you with it. Stand aside."

Kaworu said simply, "No."

"Surrender, or defeat. There is no victory. There is no mercy. There is only Darkseid."

Kaworu leapt forward, and barely made it a pace before the raw power of hate reached out in twin streamers of scarlet and took him. It hurtled him back until he was able to dig his heels into the Earth, only for the intensity of the attack to increase. Like a leaf before the wind he rolled backwards, and in striking the earth of the Geofront floor carved out a long trench of fresh clay. He rose, shakily, to his feet.

"You persist," the beast said in a droll voice, "but I tire of you, and I have a universe to destroy."

The second blast took him, and Kaworu lay, still and silent, as the shadow of death passed him by.

SSSSS

Shinji opened his eyes. He felt a great weight on his shoulders, and some part of him longed for sleep. He blinked away the harsh red light and found himself on a train. He shot to his feet, almost hit the ceiling, and whirled.

"_No!" _he cired, "Not now!"

The three yellow aliens sat patiently at the end of the car. They did not look at him.

"Be still,"

"Be calm,"

"Fear not."

"What?" he demanded, "What the hell do you want from me? Let me go! _Let me go!" _

He ran past them and pounded on the door of the train car. It hummed beneath his blows, but did not budge, and he rounded on them. He reached for their heads with his hands and they passed through them, as if he'd reached for the air. He sobbed, and sank to his knees.

"I can't do it. It's too much. I can't be everywhere at once!"

"There is one who can,"

"But that does not matter now,"

"No time passes while you are with us, Shinji Ikari. We are not given license to help you. That does not mean we cannot aid you."

"I don't understand!" he sobbed, "What do you want from me?"

"There is one you must see,"

"There is one you must hear,"

"There is one you must meet."

The door behind him slid open. Shinji turned in a flurry, and came face to face with the symbol emblazoned on his chest. His eyes slid upwards across a broadly muscled body , strong, hard jaw, and compassionate, sparkling blue eyes that mirrored his own.

"What's your name, son?" he said, softly.

"S-Shinji," he stammered, tears sliding down his face.

"Hello, Shinji. I'm Clark."

SSSSS

Gendo always knew it would end here.

He stood on the shore of the last sea, Naoko Akagi's maddened mind in an abomination standing beside him. The ground beneath his feet was curiously polished stone, against which the blood of the mother of all mankind lapped placidly. He avoided turning, avoided settling his gaze on the white giant in the seven-eyed mask. His mind had been damaged by mad gods enough already.

Rei emerged, naked as the day she was born, from the elevator, far distant, and walked towards them. The elevator drew back upwards immediately, and Rei padded towards them.

"Get out of my way," she said simply as she approached.

"Rei," Gendo said. "Stop. You must not do this."

"I will. It is the only way."

Gendo sighed. "Naoko. Stop her."

The two, eerily similar despite Naoko's body appearing perhaps two or three years older, faced each other. He'd expected a contest. Naoko simply shuddered and collapsed to the floor in a puddle of orange liquid, and her gaze settled back on him, heavily.

"**Move."**

He slid to one side, and found the courage to watch. She lifted gently from the floor, her arms out, and crossed the sea of blood. There, it waited for her, the piece of her that was her true self, from which Rei was made. It hung on a cross of iron, red and rusted, cut in half at the waist where its doughy flesh undulated with thousands of individual human legs, all eerily shapely and feminine. When Rei drew near, its pudgy body reached out and seized her, and she passed into it.

The elevator doors opened again, and red light spilled over him. He sank to his knees and turned, and watched it coming. The full weight of it pressed on him, the fullness of his knowledge, and when he gazed into those eyes the truth of the equation was plain to him. There was only Darkseid.

When he reached the edge of the great sea, he raised his hand and rose, dropping the crutches with which he had supported himself, injured legs creaking as his weight lifted from them. As he drew near the undulating mass of the great white giant, he tore from his right hand the glove he wore, and beneath it lay the embryonic body of Adam, red and raw, tiny eye blinking. He reached out for her.

Gendo heard the words again.

**Give in.**

And it all came tumbling down, tumbling down,

Tumbling down.

SSSSS

Shinji opened his eyes and found himself in hell.

The city was a ruin. The streets were cracked, the air stank of coppery death and every building was broken off, skeletal, lit only here and there by tiny fires. There was no sound, no movement, only the stiflingly hot air from distant furnaces. There was nothing.

Except Rei.

Her skin was alight, glowing with its own inner luminescence. She put a warning finger to her lips and leaned to him, pulling him into her embrace. He sat there for a time, his tears cutting a path through the grime on his face. Finally he sniffed, and the last tears flowed.

"He means to steal them from me," she whispered in his ear. "but they are not lost. I have hidden them from him, and they wait. They may still escape before he consumes them, but even now his influence darkens their souls. They need a light to show the way home."

"Can we do it? Can we bring them back?"

"Of course you can," she whispered in his ear. "You're Superman. You can do anything."

"I'm ready."

He left the suit behind in a wash of the stuff of life itself, and his mingled with the others.

* * *

><p>This is not the end.<p>

You have been reading

_Last _Child _of _Krypton

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	26. resist

Last Child of Krypton

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><p>resist<p>

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><p>|O|<p>

Toji was having a bad day.

Kanna had been in the hospital for over two weeks, and no one cared. Not only that, but his first day back to school was the day the shitbag pilot of the robot that almost killed her picked to show up and start bragging. He almost threw his desk when every girl in the room started fawning over the little wuss like he was some sort of superhero. Fortunately, just as it happened, the lunch bell rang.

He was the only person that reacted immediately. He felt betrayed. Even Kensuke had betrayed him, blathering on about the stupid robot. No one cared.

He blinked back his tears and began to wander.

Nothing gave him solace. He wasn't hungry. He didn't want to run. He just wanted the day to be over.

Then he saw him, that jerk. The weedy little shit was just outside the door, hands thrust into his pockets, just staring off into space. Toji had said the words before he realized he'd even meant to.

"Hey! New kid!"

Kensuke spotted him and trotted over as he crossed the schoolyard. Cicadas buzzed in his ears.

The pilot was short, slight, and had a feminine aspect that only made Toji hate him that much more. "Come here," he growled, and the kid started and looked at him like a frightened, confused rodent.

"I wanna talk to you."

"Wa-wa-what?" the little twerp said. God, but he was pathetic.

"Your stupid robot almost killed my sister. You're supposed to _help_ people."

That's what he tried to say. He found himself standing over the kid, who lay before him, his shirt stained with dust and a little blood, a fine mist from his nose. Toji's knuckles hurt. Kensuke said something, but it blended with the cicadas. He didn't hear any of it anymore.

He hit the little shit again. Again. Again. He started kicking him. He lay on the ground, unmoving, his face a mass of blood, and Toji screamed in fury, kicking at his head with the heel of his boot. The rage built and built in him until he felt like he would explode, like it was going to tear out through his eyes and ears and take on a life of its own.

A strong, but gentle hand seized his arm.

"Toji."

He turned. What was this? A costume? Who was this guy?

"Toji," he said again. "This never happened. This isn't real. Listen to me."

"Who are you?"

"Don't talk. Hear. The boy I know didn't give in to his rage. He overcame his fear."

The stranger firmly fixed Toji's left hand in his, cupping his fist. "Don't you remember?"

He looked at the ground. "Yeah. Kinda. There was something. Wasn't there? Something I'm supposed to say."

"The Toji I know lost a lot, but he knew the value of going on. Of forgiveness and sacrifice. He always put his friends ahead of himself, even when he had a real reason to be angry with them. He forgave me when I wouldn't."

"Shinji?" he said. "I can't… there's an oath, right? Is that what it is?"

"Do you remember?"

"I… think so. Is this how it goes? In brightest day…?"

Shinji nodded vigorously. "Come on. Let's say it together."

"In brightest day," Toji said, his voice rising as Shinji joined him, "In blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might, beware my power… _**Green Lantern's Light!**_"

/\../\

Kaji sighed as the key turned in the lock. His little apartment wasn't much, but he was lucky to have it. Every day was a joy, a gift in a world gone mad, even if ever morning began with fleeting recollections of the horrors of the Impact Wars. Wars. The word was a lie. It implied civilization, organization, a purpose, not just anarchy, people killing and worse just to survive. It didn't matter anymore, though. He made it. As long as he had Misato to keep waking up to, he'd made it. Speaking of which, after a long day of classes, making up for their week of extracurricular activities, the one thing he really needed right now was…

…an empty apartment.

He charged in, panicking. The tiny apartment was in chaos. Misato's dresser was overturned, the drawers emptied out. The bed had been rolled, and everything that was hers, even if there wasn't much, was opened, with only scraps here or there left behind. They'd been robbed.

Or so he thought, until he saw the tiny box on the counter.

It was lined with felt and it looked cheap, cheap as the dinky little ring inside, the only one he could afford. He opened it and found a folded piece of notebook paper jammed inside, pressing against the ring. He read it, a simple little line, barely coherent, and crushed it in his fist. Too fast. Too young. Need time. Don't call.

He sank to the floor and sat there for a long time, staring at nothing, head pressed against the cool pressboard of the counter. He might have cried, he wasn't sure. He remembered the day they'd met. Freshmen, they were. She was so quiet. People had called her "that weird girl". He couldn't believe, all these years later, that the same vibrant, joyful person had once lived in that taciturn shell. She'd opened herself to him. They were each other's firsts, for all the stupid rumors about them.

"I love you," he said to the air.

It didn't matter. She was gone.

He reached into his pocket, and drew out the phone. He dialed the number.

A gruff silence greeted him.

"Mister Wayne," he said as steadily as he could, "things have changed. I'd like to reconsider your job offer."

There was someone with him. He put the phone down. Two people stood in the kitchen with him, boys on the cusp of being men, in ridiculous outfits. The one in the cape leaned down and offered him a hand.

"Kaji," he said. "Kaji, it's me. Do you remember?"

"I… I know you. Who are you?"

"It's me," he said. "It's Shinji. We need your help. Come on."

"I can't," he said, "It doesn't matter. She's gone."

"She came back. Don't you remember?"

Recognition flashed through him. "I just lost her again," he said thickly. "He never would have hurt her if it wasn't for me."

"That's not true," said Toji. "It's not your fault."

"She's still out there," Shinji crouched beside him. "We can find her. We can bring her home. Rei found her. It's not too late. You have to remember."

"Remember what?"

"Who you are."

"Who am I… wait, I know how to answer that. I… it's here, isn't it?"

Frantically, he started pulling open drawers, cupboards, even the refrigerator, until at last he found it, lying in the lowest drawer in the corner. Shinji gave Toji a warning touch and they stepped back.

"I remember," Kaji said, "I remember. He gave it to me. Because there must… because it isn't over. I understand, now. It's not about revenge. It's about a better world. That's what he wanted, all the time."

"Who are you?" said Shinji.

"I'm Batman! I get to be _Batman!_"

\/\/

Asuka sobbed and scuffed back into the corner, her little shoes scraping against the grungy linoleum floor. She couldn't look, she didn't want to look. She didn't want mama to be angry. Mama swung over her head, swung swung swung, that _doll_ beside her, that _doll_.

She came to tell Mama, tell her about being pilot. She was supposed to be _happy._ She would come home and hug Asuka and throw that doll away, and it would all be better. Daddy promised her. She rocked against the wall as she heard the sounds, heard the woman in the next room moan.

She knew the person standing over her. They crowded her, the two boys and the thing, the thing like a bat. Mama was dead and there was a monster in her closet.

She started to cry.

"Wait," the boy in the blue suit said, "we're not ready. We can't reach her like this. We need the one who can."

Shinji turned, opened the closet door, and walked out into the hospital room. She was there, of course she was, choking the life out of a raggedy doll, swaddled up in bedclothes. Kyoko had seen better days, but she was still stunningly beautiful. She turned and looked at him through greasy, stringy hair that looked the color of blood now, but had once been strawberry blonde, and her eyes settled on his. He approached slowly.

"You," she said, softly, her voice hoarse.

"Hello, Doctor Soryu. Can I talk to you?"

"I remember you," she whispered. "In the long sleep, I dreamed about you."

"Yes," he said, his voice cracking. "Help me save her. Please."

"Of course."

She took his hand, and when she stepped from the bed, she shimmered. The dirt and grime flowed from her hair, leaving it shining like spun gold. She was tall and strong, a queen where Asuka had been a princess, the girl's beauty brought to the fullness and richness of womanhood.

"Take me to her."

Holding her by the hand, he led her to the closet, there where the body and the doll no longer hanged. Kyoko leaned down beside her and cupped her chin with her long fingers, and turned Asuka's face up to hers. Her little girl eyes quivered on the verge of fresh tears. "Mama?"

"I'm here. It's me. I'm here, my darling, my shining star. Mama is here for you."

_"Mama!" _Asuka beamed as she latched her arms around her mother's neck.

Kyoko stood to her full height, and as she did she drew Asuka back to hers, the plugsuit growing around her body as she stood. Fresh A-10 clips pulled back her hair, and Kyoko looked at them for a moment.

"No," she said, "No," and plucked the clips out, tossed them away. "You don't need those. I love _you_, not what you are or what you do. Always remember that."

Shinji hesitantly approached. "Something is missing," he said.

"Shinji?" Asuka said, "_Shinji!" _

She fell into his arms and he held her as Kyoko studied him, arms folded across her chest. She smirked. Shinji broke the embrace, kissed her chastely on the lips, and took her hands. When he unfolded his hands from hers, upon her palms lay a pair of silvery bracers.

SSSSS

Misato was scared. Daddy put her in the big dark egg thing and pushed her into the water, and when she opened the lid, the water looked like blood. She closed it again and was stuck in the dark, stuck with the stink of her own dried blood matting her jacket, mixed with his. She did the only thing she could do. She cried.

Someone opened the door.

"Misato?"

She screamed. There was a bat, a giant bat, and it was going to eat her. She was dead and the monsters were going to get her, and it started climbing into the pod with her, and _changed. _There was no bat, only a little boy her age slipping in with her. He wore muddy fatigues two sizes too big, and had the beginnings of stubble poking around his chin, more fuzz than beard. He sat down next to her.

"Hi," he said, "I'm Ryoji. What's your name?"

"M-Misato," she squeaked, cowering against the side of the pod. "I'm scared."

"I know," he said, "but it's going to be okay."

"The mean man hurt me," she started to cry harder, choking back pathetic little sobs with each breath, "he hurt me and he laughed."

"He's gone," the boy said, his voice high, almost breaking. "He's gone and he'll never come back. I need you."

"Ryoji?" Misato said, sitting up. "Is that… I thought I…"

He hugged her tight.

"I love you," she barked, as if she was trying to say the words as fast as she could for fear she'd lose the chance. "I shouldn't have left, I'm so sorry, so sorry."

"It's okay," he said. "We're getting out of here."

"How?"

"I know a man who can fly."

SSSSS

They found Maya in the lab, of course. She sat still, her maimed leg burning, the fresh slap on her face stung by the tears flowing across her cheeks. She'd been a fool, stupid. Of course Ritsuko wasn't like that. How could she dare to think that way, just because she had those stupid feelings, that stupid dream. She started to sob, leaning against the desk, covering her eyes with her hand.

"Wait," she heard a voice. Was that…

Ritsuko sat beside her. She touched the bruise on her cheek, and Maya felt it fade. She looked into Maya's eyes and then hugged her, and Maya let out a squeal.

"I don't know, Maya," she said, "I don't know if I can feel that way. Maybe we could try. All I know is I would never hurt you, never strike you in anger. I don't even deserve the affection of someone like you. I let that monster take your leg."

"It wasn't your fault," Maya sobbed, "You're so brave. I just, I've never felt about anybody before the way I feel about you. I don't know what it is."

"We can find out," Ritsuko said, brushing away the tears.

"My leg," she said sadly. "I can't walk."

A hand rested on her shoulder. "In this place, you are what you believe yourself to be," said Shinji. "Walk with me, Maya."

Beside her, Ritsuko stood up, and took Maya's hands, and May stood up too.

"Can we?" she said, "Just try it, see how it-"

Ritsuko covered Maya's lips with her own. Maya let out a surprised squeak.

SSSSS

Hyuga sat in the command center, leaning against the back panel, when Misato and Shinji came for him, and everyone else. They filled the room. He looked around and sighed, and took off his glasses, so he could unfocus his eyes, maybe keep himself from crying.

"Go away," he said flatly.

"Makoto-" Misato said.

"Don't Makoto me. I know I'll never have your heart. The man with the red eyes was right, there's no point. I'm not as strong or suave as Kaji, I'm just a geek with a shitty little apartment full of giant robot manga. Giant robot manga? Can you believe that? You'd think I'd be sick of that from my work day."

Kaji sat down beside him.

"Kid," he said.

"What," Hyuga said grumpily.

"I ever tell you about a girl I knew? Her name was… well, I don't actually remember. She had an ass that could stop traffic."

Ritsuko rolled her eyes.

Misato glowered at him, but smirked.

"You know what? She shot me down," he went on.

"And then what?"

"And the next day, I saw a quiet girl sitting at one of the tables in the commissary. Dressed in a sweater and an overcoat, no makeup, nothing. You know who she was?"

Misato smiled.

Shinji stepped forward and placed a hand on Hyuga's shoulders. "I know you've lost. I know there are things in life you want, but can't have. That's true for all of us, but we all get a beautiful gift to balance the scales."

"What?"

"A new day," Shinji said, "full of promise and hope that something better will come."

Hyuga stared at him for a while. "God. How can you say that?"

Shinji said nothing, keeping his gaze level, his expression neutral.

"Look who I'm asking," Hyuga smiled sadly as he stood up.

SSSSS

Aoba sat alone. On a rock.

"I knew you guys would show up sooner or later," he said as Shinji approached, the crowd pressed in behind him.

"Are you coming with us?" Maya said brightly.

"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I thought you'd never ask."

SSSSS

Hikari was crying when they found her.

"I'm scared," she said as Toji walked down the broken door to the shelter, which was empty save for her. "Everybody's gone, and I don't know what to do. Will you help me?"

"Yes," Toji said, "Come on, let's go find Kodama and Nozomi and your Dad. They're looking for you."

"Okay," she sniffed. "I think he's still gonna wanna move away."

"That's okay," Toji beamed." I can handle the commute."

Shinji slapped him on the back. "Let's go."

"Hey!" someone called.

In the corner, there was a box, a simple cardboard box. Shinji walked over to it, and opened the lid. Kanna practically erupted out and ran to Toji, clamping onto his leg.

"Toji!" she squealed.

"Kanna?" Toji said, scooping her up.

"I'm here! A big mean man with red eyes came and I hit him in the nose and said he was mean and he put me in a box," she pouted. "And he said Superman was stupid."

"We'll see about that," said Shinji, ruffling her hair.

SSSSS

Mari sat in the entry plug, the LCL long dried, matted in her hair. She drew her knees up to her chest and cried, cried long and hard, and there was snot on her plug suit and she didn't care. She didn't look up when Shinji opened the plug.

"Mari," he said. "We're here. Everybody's here, all your friends. We want you to come with us."

"Why," she sniffed. "I'm stupid. I'm immature and loud and obnoxious and nobody _really_ likes me. I'm just a joke, the extra pilot. Nobody needs me."

"We need you."

"I don't care. I'm not coming," she wiped at her nose, "I want my mommy."

"Okay," Shinji said, and stepped aside.

She was a plain woman- Mari's looks had come from her father's side of the family. She was just a person, just a mother in a plain skirt and an apron, stained with the cake she'd been baking the day she fell down in the kitchen. Mari stared at her for a moment.

"Mom?"

"I'm here," she said, "I want you to be happy. Come with us."

"How did you do it?" she said as she climbed out of the plug.

"I didn't," Shinji said, "but I have friends in high places. So do you. It was Rei. Come on, we still need Kensuke. I don't think he'll leave without you."

SSSSS

Kensuke sat alone in his room, surrounded by diagrams and charts and posters and models of jets, all hung from nearly invisible lengths of fishing wire, an apocalypse of miltiaria. His room was tiny, barely more than a closet, and he had to roll up his futon away from his desk. He didn't care now. He'd smashed the planes, torn down the posters, and sat staring at the one thing he'd never achieve.

Eva.

He held the little model in his hand. He'd lovingly painted it, compared it to photos and videos to get the proportions right, including the ones he'd gotten himself. He just wanted to be a hero, but that wasn't for him. He was just a chubby failure, like his dad and his dad before him. He'd end up working in a dead end job somewhere if an Angel didn't step on his house first.

"There's no point," he said. "I've got nothing,"

"Except a girlfriend with awesome boobs who's into all the same stupid crap you are," Toji beamed.

"Excuse me?" Hikari snapped.

"Oh, uh, I like your boobs too."

"Toji," Shinji said, his voice bubbling with barely contained laughter. "Shut. Up."

"Kensuke?" Mari said softly. "I'm sorry I missed our date."

"It's okay," he said, taking off his glasses. "You were saving the world. I know."

"I'd rather have been with you. Wanna meet my mom?"

Toji shook his head frantically.

"Hey," Asuka said angrily. "How come no one ever talks about _my_ boobs?"

"Asuka, I have to break this to you gently. Shinji has been lying to you. He's Superman. You're dating Superman. That's why."

She eyed him dangerously.

"Let's go," said Shinji. "There's more people. We need everybody."

SSSSS

Naoko Akagi lay atop her creation, the MAGI system itself, watching the blood trickle out of her own brain. Her eye couldn't focus, but she knew who she saw anyway.

"I like your hair," she snapped.

"Sorry, Mom, but I needed a new look," Ritsuko said coolly. "We want you to come with us."

"I belong here," she said. "I treated my own family like a stranger, I strangled a little girl, and I helped murder my own best friend so I could sleep with her husband. I don't deserve to be happy."

"Maybe," a calm voice said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "but that isn't for you to decide. We have to face each new day and take what comes, because that's what it is to be human."

"How do you know that?"

"Superman told me," he quipped.

"I know you," she said as her eyes focused. "You're Yui's boy. Why would you want to help me? Do you know what I've done?"

"I don't care," he said, slipping a warm hand into hers. "Everyone deserves a chance. No one belongs here. Come with us."

"Please," her daughter said, and for a moment she remembered that same word a dozen times over, and the answer had always been no.

But not today.

SSSSS

Shinji trembled as the time came. He and his friends and allies were specters, ghosts in the machine. They stood in silence as Yui Ikari, bright and beaming and beautiful, waved goodbye to her son. Toji rested a hand on his shoulder, and then stepped back. This, he had to do alone.

He ascended the stair behind her, climbed up beside the dissected visage of Unit-01. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and the gangway shuddered as Unit-01 stretched and moved under it. She put her hands out, her bulky contact suit squeaking. She turned to him.

"You…" she said, "You look like someone I know."

"Mom, it's me."

She stared at him for a moment. "You… are you… no, you can't be, you're too old, but… you have his eyes. I saw them. You have Jor-El's eyes."

"It's me. It's Shinji. I'm here."

She shook, and Shinji thought she was fainting, and rushed to catch her. Unit-01 struggled beneath them, bandages popping and creaking against her muscles. Shinji held on to her like a desperate man clinging to a shipwreck in a storm.

"No," he said, "not this time, you monster. This time she's not going with you."

"It is you. God, it is you. I dreamed of you. I remember, when they tried to make you pilot, I stopped them, I wouldn't let them. I took the girl instead. Oh God, what have I done?"

Asuka walked up the stairs. "Yui?" she said quietly.

"I remember you," Yui said, "I remember the volcano. I knew your mind, your thoughts, when the synch came. I knew how you felt for my son, even when he didn't. I set the other girl aside and pulled you out."

"Yeah," Asuka said, "uh, thanks, for, um, being my Eva."

Yui laughed. The sound was like bells, like the first chirps of a bird on a fresh spring day.

"Oh," she chuckled, "You still haven't told him, have you? He doesn't know?"

"Uh," Asuka said, "Know what?"

She smirked. "We'll talk about it later."

"_Yui,"_ Kyoko called up from the catwalk. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, Kyoko," Yui said innocently. She leaned over to Shinji, and in his ear, whispered three words.

"Come on," Shinji said, grinning from ear to ear. "We need everyone. Absolutely everyone."

SSSSS

Gendo Ikari sat in his office, hand steepled, waiting patiently as Shinji entered the room. He retained his position as the others followed him, packing his office to the gills. He remained, impassive, staring at the man. They remained this way for some time, until Gendo broke the silence.

"For what it's worth," he said, "I am sorry, Shinji."

Yui strode forward. Gendo stared at her, impassive, although he did rise ever so slightly away from his hands.

"This is a trick," he said. "You're not real. This is another one of his illusions. I've read the Equation. This isn't possible. There's no _point_."

"You asked me once if I could change fate," Shinji said. "What do you think?"

He studied Shinji for a long moment, and then stood up. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>i need you<p>

* * *

><p>In this place, the last place, there was only darkness. Shinji walked and they followed him, Toji and Kensuke and Asuka and Mari, Hyuga and Aoba and Maya, arm in arm with Ritsuko; Kyoko and Yui and Gendo and Naoko, Hikari and her sisters and her father and Kanna and all the world, every single one.<p>

Except one. The one they were missing. The one they looked to find.

The form of the great enemy loomed over them, his back turned. He stood, hands clasped behind his back, in contemplation, hidden in terrible, whirling shadows, and as he came upon him Shinji knew fear. He turned and said,

"Be strong. Remember what you learned. Remember your family and friends and your hopes and dreams."

As he walked, Kaworu and Rei fell in on either side beside him. He turned to them, one at a time, and they smiled warmly as they walked through the void.

"_Darkseid!_"Shinji called, "_Give back what you have stolen! You have no rights here!"_

He turned slowly, his red-eyed gaze falling on Shinji like a winter storm. "No. You will fall. You will fail. All that you are, all that you have dreamed of, are nothing before Darkseid. I am the beginning and the end. I am beyond anything you have ever known, and beyond anything you will ever know again. The death of your world is but one step on a long journey of despair that will lead to a universe of endless pain, endless suffering, and when all the universe is Darkseid, I will gaze into it, as into a mirror."

"_Darkseid!_" Shinji called again. "Hear me! **Hear me!**"

They joined him, everyone, in a great chorus.

"When I gaze into your black soul, it is with six billion eyes!"

"When I pass judgment on your evil, it is with three billion hearts!"

"When I raise my hand to oppose your will, it is with three billion fists!"

"When I sing the song of creation, it is with three billion voices!"

"_Go back where you belong!" _

Darkseid smirked, still half turned. In a fury, Shinji grabbed his shoulder and turned him, turned to face him.

"You dare _touch me?_"

He lanced out with all his hate, his evil, with the Omega Sanction, the death that is life, and behind Shinji, Asuka rested her hands on his shoulders, and behind her, Kyoko and Yui rested theirs, and behind them the whole world, pushing together. Shinji thrust out his chest and parted it as ship parts a wave and stood strong.

Then he saw it.

Deep within Darkseid's black heart, Kozo Fuyutsuki lay, bound in irons and thorns. He stirred as Shinji plowed forward, one eye opening dimly in his swollen and beaten face, scratched and bleeding. Shinji reached for him, plunging his arm into the thorns even as they drew his blood.

"Professor! We're here! Come back!" Shinji cried, "It's safe! You can come back!"

"Leave me be," the old man croaked, "I deserve worse than this. I covered up the greatest crime in history. I'm a monster, worse than a monster. I coveted my friend's wife. I deserve my fate," and as he spoke, Darkseid spoke with him, and their voices were one and the same.

A tiny voice whispered, "Kozo. Kozo, it's me."

Yui reached past Shinji and he flinched as she plunged her hand into the thorns, reaching even past his. "Kozo!"

He looked at her for a moment, only a moment, before he took Yui's hand. Shinji clamped his around them both and pulled, and as he pulled so many arms he couldn't count them all joined him, grabbing his arm and his cape and his shoulders, pulling with him. Darkseid screamed in pain and rage and impotent fury as they pulled Fuyutsuki free, and Yui embraced him.

"Come with us," she said.

Rei drew Shinji back even as Darkseid reached for him.

The great beast faded, emaciated, worn. The strength was not in him anymore. Still he reached, still he clawed feebly, eyes full of murder, and Rei looked down him and said, her voice almost pitiable, "Look at you. The final crisis has come and gone. You are dead, but refuse to embrace your end."

"It doesn't matter," he wheezed, his voice hollow and empty now, "so long as there is evil, there will be a place for Darkseid."

"So long as there is Darkseid," said Rei, "there will be a Superman to oppose him. Hope is always strongest on the darkest day, as the candle is always brightest in the deepest night. Begone from this place. Your anchor is denied you. You have no more claim here."

Darkseid rose, and as he rose, became a cloud of smoke and soot, as if from a burning fire.

Shinji drew in a mighty breath, and he blew, and just like that, he was gone.

He turned, and said, "Let's go home."

SSSSS

Shinji awoke to the lapping of waves, and the crash of the ocean. He drew in a sharp breath, remembering the visions within the angel of the night. He released it, slowly, when he felt a warm hand on his, soft, slender fingers lacing through his own.

He turned. Asuka lay in the sand beside him.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"I think we made it," he said.

"Yeah," she said. "Is it just us?"

"Ugh," Kyoko said, "I forgot what it was like to have sand my hair."

"Mamma?" Asuka said. "Mamma!"

"Ow!" Kyoko cried as Asuka crashed into her, but there was no heat in her voice, only giggles. Shinji sighed, smiling to himself as he sat in the sand, watching the sun rise over the lapping waters of the sea. The beach was strewn with people, all up and down it, as far as even he could see, unto the ends of the Earth. Or the curvature of it, anyway.

His mother sat down beside him, and rested her head on her shoulder.

"I didn't get my wish," she said.

"Huh?" Shinji said, alarmed.

"Some part of me planned to stay within Eva," she said sadly. "I know it's wrong, and it's selfish, but I thought that mankind should have a marker. I thought I'd end up floating in space, like a signpost pointing to us. It was my dream as a little girl, if that makes any sense."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"You really do apologize too much," she chided him. "And what are you doing with your hair? You look ridiculous."

"Mom!"

"You don't know how much I've wanted to hear that," she said wistfully, running her fingers through his hair. "Son."

"Your wish will be granted, Yui Ikari," Kaworu's soft voice said.

They stood together, though neither of their feet touched the ground. Kaworu and Rei were side by side, hand in hand, looking up and down the beach. The wind gusted, but touched neither of their hair.

"Rei," Shinji said. "We did it."

"You did it," Rei said cheerily. "I only… facilitated."

"I, on the other hand," Kaworu said with a smirk, "was as useful as… what is the expression? A screen door on a battleship."

"Submarine," Yui laughed, "It's submarine."

Kaworu looked confused. "I do not understand."

"A submarine submerges, so… never mind."

"You can't stay, can you?" Shinji said softly.

"My time on this world, as Rei Ayanami, is done," said Rei. "I am not Rei Ayanami, nor am I Lilith. I am more things than you could know, but Rei Ayanami will always be part of me, and that part will be dear. So it is that your wish will be granted, Yui Ikari. No matter what happens, mankind will not be forgotten. This, we swear."

"We swear," said Kaworu.

"Wait," Yui said, "Did… did Kozo come back?"

"He is free," said Rei. "Perhaps in time, if he sees hope within himself, he and others who did not come back with us will be able to return. Be not afraid, for he is at peace."

"Thank you," said Shinji.

Asuka plopped in the sand next to him, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Blech," she said, "I feel sick."

Shinji smiled, and let out a long breath.

"Hey," she said, "What is it you wouldn't tell me?"

"Well," Yui said, smirking over Shinji's shoulder, "You're-"

SSSSS

They who were once Rei and Kaworu took flight.

Their first stop was near, an old, barren world once left cold, a world its people called Ma'aleca'andra, once. There the Seeds of Life lay with one another, and when she breathed her joy, it was as the breath of life, and there, on that barren world, the first flower grew. And she who was once Rei cupped the flower in her hand and whispered, so that it and all who grew after it would remember, and dream, and when the darkness came and crowded in around the edges of their campfires, they would whisper to one another in myth and legend of a hero of a thousand names, a strange visitor with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

"Behold," she whispered, "I teach you the Superman."

* * *

><p>You have been reading<p>

_Last_ Child _of_ Krypton

* * *

><p>resist|i need you<p>

* * *

><p>This work incorporates the by the creations and ideas of Hideaki Anno, Jerry Seigel, Joe Schuster, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, William Moulton Marston, Martin Nodell, C.C. Beck, Bill Parker, Joseph Samachson, Joe Certa, Gardner Fox, Harry Lampert, Dennis Neville, Mark Waid, Alex Ross, Jack Kirby, and Grant Morrison.<p>

No claim, intellectual, financial, or otherwise, is intended, and the utmost respect is implied.

I thank you for reading.

* * *

><p>Wait, we're not done. Did you think I forgot about Pen-Pen?<p>

* * *

><p>Io the Amazon dropped her dress in a pool around her ankles and sauntered into the steaming bath to join her sisters. She cooed and clamored around the bird, as her sisters all had.<p>

"Isn't he just _precious?_"

"Just as planned," warked Pen-Pen.


End file.
